Sophos offers free anti-virus app for Android

SECURITY

Sophos has announced the availability of Sophos Mobile Security, a free, lightweight anti-virus application that protects Android devices against malware, privacy issues and hardware loss—without reducing performance or battery life.

The amount of mobile malware is rapidly increasingly, in particular on the Android OS. In May, the Sophos Naked Security blog conducted a survey of 900 readers, which found that 39 percent used a smartphone running Android.

According to Juniper Networks and F-Secure respectively, the growth rate in Android malware last year increased 155 percent over 2010, and the number of Android malware families nearly quadrupled from 2011 to 2012.

Using up-to-the-minute intelligence from SophosLabs, the company’s global network of threat intelligence centres, Sophos Mobile Security automatically scans apps as users install them, blocking undesirable software and malicious code that can lead to data loss and unexpected costs.

In addition to safeguarding devices from malicious apps and other risks, Sophos Mobile Security locates lost or stolen Android devices and provides a remote lock to shield personal information from unintended users.

“We’re not seeing any slowdown in the number of malicious applications, as more smartphone owners use their devices to store personal data, and access social networks and the Internet. This usage, coupled with the increase in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) activity, is making Android devices a compelling target for cyber criminals and malware,” says Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor, NetXactics.

“Android users must be vigilant as the number of threats continues to increase, which makes applications such as Sophos Mobile Security all the more important.”

Sophos Mobile Security is available for free download from Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sophos.smsec.