There will always be an argument, disagreement when it comes to Apple OS and Android smartphones and tablets, in many cases consumers will go blue in the face and stick up for the OS platform that they believe is the best. Yes one has open source and the other is very much closed in the way everything needs to be approved before going any further, this is where we talk about ‘Secure vs Unsecure’ and how Android beats Apple in the mobile malware threat.

There is no doubting that Android is the king of open source, but then they are also vulnerable to major security issues. Google’s Android cannot dispute the fact that they are the best in malware threats, and a new report via F-Secure mentions that Android is right up there with 79 percent of mobile malware in 2012 and if this was compared to iOS that accounts less than one percent of the pie chart.

The Android mobile threat report via F-Secure reports (PDF) that out of 96 new families and variants of threats to the Android operating system nearly a quarter of them had to do with Premium SMS con which has your phone send out messages to premium rate numbers. Messages then disappeared for the phone as well as leaving a massive charge that is added to users monthly mobile bills.

The report also mentions things about hijacking your SMS to subscribe to a costly service as well as malware stealing mobile transaction authentication number aka mTAN, extra security can be put in place by downloading Google Android version 4.2 Jelly Bean as this will reduce threats that helps deflect Trojans and cuts down on such schemes.

79 percent of threats were related to Android in 2012, that means a massive rise of 66% during the previous year.

Phones Review always sits on the fence, we love both iOS and Android platforms. There is no taking away from Apple that they have the most secure system, Android being open source will always face threats, apps can be submitted without even being looked at and for any parent this could be slightly worrying for their children as they can download what they like without even knowing what is going to be good or bad. Not everyone knows how to use Android OS smartphones when they first receive them, it is ok for the avid user to say “Android is easy and it is the best platform” but remember you know what to do and you know what is right and wrong. Please do not think for one minute we are favouring any OS, we like both for different reasons, we are merely pointing out that Android is the best when it comes to malware vulnerabilities.