Trend Micro Inc. has released the Mobile App Reputation product that can automatically identify, analyze and rate mobile applications including malware, potential theft of private data and system resource abuse including battery, memory, and bandwidth.
According to Trend Micro Canada, this new product is welcome news for the growing number of Android users in Canada. Similar to Google Bouncer Service, which is focused on malware detection in Google’s Android market, Trend Micro’s Mobile App Reputation analyzes additional mobile app attributes and also works with 3rd party Android app stores. While Bouncer analyzes for malicious code within apps, Trend Micro analyzes malicious code along with the potential privacy risks and system resource consumption.
Raimund Genes, CTO, Trend Micro, said Google Bouncer Service is a great first step toward getting additional security control over the Google App Store. But we still need to see security measures for all the other Android App stores.
Research2Guidance, in a recent study, found there were more than 500,000 applications published on the Android Market in September 2011. Trend Micro threat research experts identified more than 1,000 malicious Android apps in 2011 with that number growing at an astounding rate of 60 per cent month over month. In 2012, Trend Micro threat researchers estimate the number of malicious Android apps will grow to more than 120,000.
