480m trojan attacks on smartphones in China

BEIJING - More than 480 million smartphones in China have fallen victim to malicious software (malware) in the first half of 2013, a number almost equal to the total registered complaints in 2012.

More than 450,000 trojans, malware, and malicious advertisement plug-ins were intercepted by 360 Mobile Safe, a leading mobile security product in China, according to a report released over the weekend by the mobile security provider 360.

Trojans intercepted on Android phones accounted for 97 percent of the total. Mobile traffic wasting, information theft, and malicious fees are the three most common effects.

Over 60 percent 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.

360 Mobile Safe is a  security product by New York-listed Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. According to Qihoo's Q1 financial report, 360 Mobile Safe had 275 million users as of March, 2013.

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 percent compared with the end of 2012.