By ; Nelly ALI
Secure-D, mobile security platform by leading technology company Upstream, launched a new mobile malware center that reports suspicious Android applications it detects and blocks around the world. The information on the Secure-D Index, currently in beta, allows anyone to easily find what apps pose a threat to their privacy and pocket, in one place, for free. Data is openly available to the whole mobile industry, from app developers, ad networks and publishers, to media, advertisers and mobile network operators that all fall prey to mobile ad fraud.
The Secure-D Index includes an aggregated list of Android applications that have been identified as suspicious by Upstream’s security platform. For each app the Secure-D Index center features pertinent information such as number of downloads, market infection rate and markets where the app is active. Data is currently available for 17 markets, including the US, Russia, India, Germany, South Africa and Egypt, covering up to 1.3 billion mobile data subscribers. The Index lists over 1,500 malicious apps with an estimate of 13.5 billion downloads. Users can check whether the apps are available on Google Play, have been removed from Google Play, or are distributed through third-party app stores. The developer and a link to the developer’s website are also provided when available.
Dimitris Maniatis, Head of Secure-D at Upstream, commented: “Secure-D leads the fight against malware, an ever-growing threat for mobile security worldwide. We believe a crucial part of this fight is awareness, which mobile users and, surprisingly, a large part of the industry lacks. At Upstream, we have been steadily and openly sharing Secure-D’s proprietary findings on suspicious and fraudulent apps in an effort to eliminate digital mobile fraud. The publication of these findings through our Secure-D Index highlights the level of awareness we aim to achieve and the transparency we believe is required to more effectively target the shady practices of threat actors that prey on a whole ecosystem”.
All Secure-D Index information is available for free. Users can access the top 20 most active malware from the previous day and register for free to access full data, either global or country specific, see historical data or search for a specific app. Currently in beta mode, the Secure-D Index is planned to improve and expand with further functionalities and data from additional markets.
In 2018 alone, Secure-D having processed over 1.8 billion mobile transactions, detected and blocked over 63,000 malicious apps in 16 countries. The security platform identifies and blocks over 170 new malware every single day. Earlier this year Secure-D reported on the suspicious background activity of 4shared, a popular file sharing app, Vidmate, a video downloader, and Weather Forecast a preinstalled app on Alcatel devices. All these apps with a total of 600 million downloads, were or had been at some point available on Google Play. In these three cases alone, Secure-D detected and blocked near 250 million suspicious mobile transactions.
By providing information on suspicious apps freely to the public via Secure-D Index, Upstream aims to further protect mobile subscribers, operators and advertisers from the ever-growing threat of mobile ad fraud, whose value is currently estimated at $40 billion.
