McAfee blames Adobe for smartphone insecurity

INSECURITY OUTFIT McAfee claims that Adobe's Flash and PDF software are the primary targets for malware authors.

In McAfee's fourth quarter threat report the firm said that malware for smartphones grew 46 per cent in 2010 from the previous year, with Adobe's software being the primary target. The firm said that as more devices access the Internet, including smartphones, tablets and television, web-based malware will not only grow in numbers but also in sophistication.

McAfee, which makes most of its money by selling insecurity software to Microsoft Windows users, said that the popularity of Adobe's PDF and Flash software among mobile devices that ran non-Microsoft operating systems was to blame. That's right, McAfee is claiming that the fact Android is based on Linux increases a user's chance of getting hit by malware.

The outfit also claimed that Android has been targeted by a Trojan horse in applications.

McAfee's statements regarding Adobe's software as being a prime target for malware authors should only serve to elevate the levels of smugness in Apple fanbois. Apple has always maintained that security reasons are behind its decision not to support Adobe's Flash software.

The firm's comments implyng that Microsoft software environments are likely to provide greater security are highly debatable and obviously motivated by self-interest, if not flat out wrong.

Given that Adobe issues frequent security updates to its Windows Flash and PDF software, it's more likely that McAfee's statement is based on the knowledge that those who do not use Microsoft operating systems are unlikely to buy McAfee's software. µ