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Report: 25% of mobile endpoints have faced malicious apps

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According to a new report by Zimperium, one in four mobile endpoints have encountered malicious apps. The report takes a look at the mobile attack surface, examining a year’s worth of mobile threat data in review, including a deeper concentration on mobile device threat and mobile application threat trends. It also provides a roundup and topical analysis of mobile threat data from the field, including prominent mobile attack vectors, regional analyses, exploited mobile vulnerabilities, mobile phishing trends and mobile malware trends.

There is no denying that mobile endpoints are exposed to increased threats, putting enterprise data and services at risk. This data point is one of the most surprising observations from the enterprise clients and the risk data reported back from the Android and iOS devices secured by Zimperium globally.

Furthermore, in 2021, there was a 466% increase in exploited, zero-day vulnerabilities used in active attacks against mobile endpoints. Despite the massive popularity of mobile devices over the previous decade, the last three years saw zero-day vulnerabilities that target mobile endpoints becoming a more significant challenge than ever before. In 2021, one in three zero-day attacks in the wild have targeted mobile endpoints, with iOS devices accounting for 60% of the victims in these attacks.

Bar graph. Expected events per year per device. In order from most popular to least popular: mobile malware; man-in-the-middle; malicious website; scans; known malicious network; traffic manipulation; compromised devices; rogue access point.

In the world of BYOD, the mobile device attack surface is no longer a consumer-only threat. Each one represents a risk to enterprise security. In the hands of the right attackers, any exploit could be an effective tool in an attack on a managed or unmanaged mobile endpoint, helping them gain a foothold in enterprise systems and networks.

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Read the full report by Zimperium.