Over 50% don’t protect their Android devices

Over 50 percent of Android-based smartphone and tablet owners do not use any security software to protect their devices against cyber-threats, according to Kaspersky Lab.

This is in despite of the well-documented notion that Android has long been the most popular platform purchased by consumers and used by cybercriminals to steal from them.

Even though a high number of participants said they do not use security protection on their mobile devices, the results showed that 40 percent of smartphone and 42 percent of Android tablet owners participating in the survey stated that they have installed a security solution on their devices and are now using it.

These results highlight the consumer way of thinking at a time when Android is well-established as the top target for cybercriminals among all mobile platforms. According to Kaspersky Lab research, 99 percent of current malware samples targeting mobile devices have been developed for the Android platform.

This threat is also growing: in 2012 Kaspersky Lab detected 35,000 malicious samples, while in just the first half of 2013 the amount detected was over 47,000.

There is also the risk of devices being lost or stolen. For many people, smartphones and tablets are the main place of storage for photos and videos, correspondence with friends and family, passwords and other valuable information. It is all too easy for a device to be misplaced or stolen from a person and have all that personal information fall into the wrong hands.