Malware attacks 480 million smartphones in China

BEIJING: A staggering 480 million smartphones in China have fallen victim to a malicious software malware in the first half of this year, almost equal to the total registered complaints in 2012.

More than 450,000 trojans, malware and malicious advertisement plug-ins were intercepted by a mobile security product in China, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Trojans intercepted on Android phones accounted for 97 per cent of the total.

The number of Chinese mobile phone users crossed a billion mark last year touching 1.11 billion users.

About 47 per cent of Chinese urban residents have smartphones, according to a report released by Google.

Over 60 per cent of malware takes at least two kinds of malicious action, secretly collecting information on users such as location, phone records and text messages. Information is then uploaded to specific servers, the report said.

Data from the China Internet Network Information Center showed that 464 million Chinese citizens used mobile phones to access the Internet as of the end of June, up 4 per cent compared with the end of 2012.