Windows devices account for 80 percent of malware infections

According to a report from Alcatel-Lucent’s Motive Security Lab, Windows devices accounted for 80% of the infections spotted on hardware that relied on mobile networks for internet connectivity. Meanwhile, Android’s share of the total infection count dropped to about 20% after long hovering at the 50% mark.

That Windows malware infections represented such a huge portion of the total when Microsoft’s operating system has been a very minor player in mobile is certainly counter-intuitive.

While those devices are powered by Windows and on a mobile network, they’re not necessarily smartphones or cellular-equipped tablets. In fact, the vast majority are not: They’re traditional PCs, mainly laptops, that use a mobile network rather than a fixed network composed of copper or fiber optic lines.

Windows device infection rate was also up significantly in the first half of 2015 on mobile networks. By June, it was approximately 0.6%, representing 6 infections per 1,000 devices. That was more than three times that of Android, the other OS that historically has had a high infection rate.