China sees explosive increase in mobile network malware

The number of malicious mobile Internet software programs in China rose to more than 162,000 last year, 25 times more than the figure in 2011, according to data released Thursday at a national conference on network security.

A total of 162,981 malware samples circulating on mobile Internet devices have been detected by the National Computer network Emergency Response Technical Team/ Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC) or reported by Internet net security companies, with 82.5 percent of the malware targeting phones using the Android operating system, the center said.

Most mobile Internet malware spreads through smartphone application stores, forums and sites offering other downloadable content, according to Zhou Yonglin, a department head at CNCERT/CC.

China has the world's largest online population, as well as the most mobile Internet users.

In 2012, 16,388 websites had been tampered with in China, up 6.1 percent year on year, according to the center.

A total of 52,324 websites were found to be harboring malicious software last year, among which 3,016 were government websites, the center added.