At the beginning of the year, security experts guessed that there would be as many of 125,000 malware apps available on the Android Market, but it turns out that guess was rather conservative.
Researchers found that, through the end of September, there were more than 175,000 malware apps in the mobile marketplace, and cautioned that the number could grow given the additional three months left in the year, according to security firm
Trend Micro. Many of these apps pose as versions of popular programs such as Angry Birds and Instagram, and others rely on adware that may collect user data without consent.
In fact, many of these adware programs work by using legitimate networks to promote their bogus or malicious advertisements to consumers, the report said. Experts believe that the general lack of stringent oversight for the Android Market is the reason hackers have been so successful in pushing out these fraudulent programs.
Ondrej Krehel, the chief information security officer for
IDentity Theft 911, has a blog about the ways in which hackers' efforts can compromise the safety of consumers' personal and financial information.
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