Juniper networks today announced its third annual report on the malware threats to mobile consumers. The report shows a swift growth in mobile malware, indicating a potentially profitable business for malware creators and mobile attackers.

Between March of 2012 and March of this year, 2013, the Juniper Networks Mobile Threat Center (MTC) found a significant rise in the amount of mobile malware threats in the amount of 614 percent, making the total detected malware on mobile operating systems 276,259 incidences.

The Juniper report attributes the fact that 92 percent of all these detected threats are aimed at Android to an indication that malware writers are behaving more like profit-motivated businesses, in that Android has a commanding share of the global smartphone market.

In addition, the malware is showing up in loosely regulated third-party app marketplaces, says the report, which makes it easier for malware writers to quickly cash in on Android users’ mobile activities.

The Juniper MTC research facility conducts security, vulnerability, and malware research on mobile devices and technologies, examining more sophisticated attacks and new threat vectors in the mobile space.

The combination of low-regulated app marketplaces along with the larger installed user base of the Android operating system may well indeed cause problems down the road, much like the ubiquity of Windows did in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Juniper says that around 77 percent of the mobile malware threats could be eliminated if users upgrade to the latest Android OS.

• SourceJuniper
• ViaMacTrast