McAfee: Android OS most attacked by malware

It's been known for a while now that Google's Android mobile phone and tablet operating system is the one that seems to get more attention by malware makers. Now a new report from anti-virus company McAfee seems to confirm that notion. McAfee, a division of Intel, announced earlier this week that it has recorded a massive 76 percent increase in Android-based malware attacks in the second quarter of 2011. That rise has put Android in the dubious distinction of surpassing Nokia's Symbian OS as the operating system that has the most malware. McAfee speculates that Android will become an even bigger target for cybercriminals who create dangerous malware programs.

McAfee says that overall it has found 12 million unique malware samples in the first half of 2011 which was a 22 percent increase from the same period a year ago. The company claims that it now has 65 million malware samples in its "zoo" and says those numbers could expand to a whopping 75 million samples by the end of 2011.

In addition to all of the new threats against the Android OS, McAfee says that there is an increasing malware threat to Apple's Mac OS. In the past the Mac OS had been ignored by the malware community but now the first ever fake anti-virus threat has been found for the Mac operating system. In addition more malware in general are being hidden in a rootkit program. This kind of "stealth malware" threat has increased 38 percent this year compared to a year ago.