Dive Brief:
- A new report from Alcatel-Lucent found that Windows devices accounted for 80 percent of malware infections delivered via mobile networks in June, CIO reports.
- The data was generated from scans by Alcatel-Lucent's Motive Security Guardian technology.
- iOS, meanwhile, was at nearly negligible percentages for malware.
Dive Insight:
Alcatel-Lucent's Motive Security Guardian technology monitors traffic from more than 100 million devices.
Microsoft has a very small part of the mobile market, yet Windows devices accounted for the vast majority of the infections.
"Most people are surprised to find such a high proportion of Windows/PC devices involved," Alcatel-Lucent said in its report. "These Windows/PCs are connected to the mobile network via dongles and mobile Wi-Fi devices or simply tethered through smartphones. They are responsible for a large percentage of the malware infections observed."
The infected devices are powered by Windows and on a mobile network, but the majority of them are traditional PCs and laptops. Most of the infections detected on Windows devices was adware bundled with games and free software, the company said.
"The increase in Windows/PC infections can be attributed to the fact that more people are using their phone's data connection to provide Internet access for their devices," Alcatel-Lucent concluded.
CIOs should stress that their employees avoid downloading such things on their work devices because the malware they collect can then be introduced to enterprise systems where they may cause additional problems.
