The most prevalent threat vector that drives mobile device users to malware are web ads, according to a recent study.
Research shared in the “2014 Mobile Malware Report,” conducted by Blue Coat Systems' Security Lab, indicates that malvertisements – phony ads that deliver malicious payloads to compromise an end-user's device – have skyrocketed, more than tripling since November 2012 and surpassing pornography as the top threat vector.
Although pornography accounts for less than one percent of all “requested content,” it is responsible for more than 16 percent of all attacks, while web ads – accounting for 12 percent of requested content – have close to a 20 percent rate of infection.
The report attributes the rise of malvertising to uncontrolled networks of ad servers being “tricked into serving malicious ads unknowingly.”
