Furthermore, the percentage of enterprise iOS devices that have malicious apps installed today has more than tripled since Q3 2016. In addition, the number of disclosed vulnerabilities in the first quarter of 2017 was greater than all of 2016. An explication for this fact could be that more employees are choosing iOS devices for BYOD, and that makes iOS a valuable target for hackers. Nevertheless, the number of vulnerabilities and malware does not indicate how secure a platform is, but it does indicate how often hackers are attempting to break into it.
One of the most important things that can be done to secure a mobile device is to be sure it is on the latest security patch. In the Skycure study, 91% of active devices were on the latest major version (iOS 10) at the end of Q1, and 22% were on the latest minor release (iOS 10.3).
The report also examined the risk of network exposure on iOS devices, finding the following in Q1 2017:
iOS devices in Europe connect to more risky networks and experience a higher rate of network incidents than iOS devices in the US
iPads are much less likely to connect to risky networks than iPhones. About 39 % of iPhones experienced risky network incidents, averaging over seven incidents per affected device, while only 25 % of iPads were exposed, averaging only five incidents each.
In any typical organization, about 21 % of all mobile devices will be exposed to a network threat in the first month of security monitoring. This number goes to 41 % over the next three months.
The Skycure Mobile Threat Intelligence Report reviews worldwide threat intelligence data and is based on millions of monthly security tests from January through March 2017.
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