Taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of Android-based devices is easier than on Apple products,
as Apple applications are provisioned from a “closed” or tightly controlled store, requiring
application approval from Apple. In contrast, the Android marketplace is open, allowing for easier
dissemination of applications with malware.
The official Android application store, Google Play, is open. Google does not vet the applications
before they are placed in the application store. Although Google has taken steps to remove
potentially malicious software from Google Play, and to ensure that applications in Google Play are
compliant with its policies, the process is not perfect.6 According to RiskIQ, the number of
malicious apps in the Google Play store has grown 388 percent from 2011 to 2013, while the
number of malicious apps removed annually by Google has dropped from 60 percent in 2011 to 23
percent in 2013 (see Figure 3).7
To arrive at its conclusions, RiskIQ combines synthetic users with a
worldwide proxy network and threat data to analyze and detect malicious digital properties including
copycat apps, malvertisements, and rogue Web sites.