Rather, Apple should be commended for keeping the App Store relatively safe. So perhaps Hypponen is right that we should be congratulating Apple, but not for the lack of iOS malware. In spite of the existence of Android anti-virus software, when you compare Android with iOS, there’s certainly a big difference in terms of device security.Īndroid app stores (including Google’s own) have a history of letting in malware apps, while Apple’s more restrictive App Store policies and more careful application vetting tend to keep iOS users safer. Meanwhile, you can get free anti-virus software for Android from Sophos and other vendors. Some is quiet and surreptitious like Flame.Īnd what’s worse, you wouldn’t be able to detect or remove iOS malware easily because Apple doesn’t allow full-featured, real-time scanning anti-virus software in the iOS App Store. Not all malware has big, flashy alerts like FakeAlert malware. The same exploits used to jailbreak (an arguably legitimate hack) could just as easily be used to infect an iOS device with malware.Īnd what happens if you get malware on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch? You wouldn’t necessarily know it. Jailbreaking is accomplished by exploiting security vulnerabilities in iOS. Virtually every version of iOS has been quickly jailbroken (that is, modified to allow installation of apps and hacks not authorized by Apple or the mobile carrier). Speaking of jailbreaking, this brings up an interesting point about iOS device security.

Of course, there were the Ikee and Duh worms back in 2009, although one could dismiss them as not “serious” malware cases because they only infected iPhones that had been jailbroken without following the critical step of changing the default root password. It's not just luck we need to congratulate Apple on this.'

After 5 years, not a single serious malware case. Anti-virus veteran Mikko Hypponen made an interesting remark on Twitter yesterday:

Free malware removal for apple ipad