TrustGo Appoints Google Play as Fifth Safest App Market

Mobile security firm TrustGo has recently issued its TrustGo Summer Mobile Mayhem Report and the figures are not encouraging at all. They’ve tested 1.7 million applications from 175 markets worldwide and here are the results.

Google Play is fairly safe compared to other shady app markets, but it’s far from being the safest. According to TrustGo, the company ranks 5th on a global scale.

As it turns out, the safest app market in the world is Aproov from Europe, the riskiest being Anzhi from China with a risk rate of 62.8%. Furthermore, while it may not be a surprise to many users, Chinese app stores are the most dangerous.

The report also shows that mobile games are most likely to be infected with malicious code. The least risk is posed by productivity apps and social media.

As far as malware is concerned, experts have recorded a considerable increase, from 11.822 to 25.580, compared to the previous quarter.

Another concerning fact is that over one in six apps contain code that leverages granted permission to create a security risk. Moreover, 94% of such pieces of software are able to send the phone numbers of unsuspecting users to third parties.

“While viruses and risky apps are a global problem, some regions are more dangerous than others. Many Chinese users can’t access the Google Play marketplace, so a large number of third party stores have popped up to fill the void,” Xuyang Li, founder and CEO of TrustGo, explained.

“Unfortunately, this has made China’s marketplaces especially insecure because many download sites haven’t set up controls necessary to keep bad apps off their platforms. TrustGo is vigilantly working with app marketplaces to alert them whenever we find risky and malicious apps.”

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Via: TrustGo Appoints Google Play as Fifth Safest App Market