Australians have been branded the ‘worst in the world’ at being fooled into downloading malicious apps on their devices.
The country had the highest rate of 26.9 per cent in app threats on a per device basis during a study across 160 countries from February 2021 to March this year.
Apple iOS devices are more frequently scammed with 30.1 per cent of threats found on gadgets using that operating system.
Australia recorded the highest rate of 26.9 per cent in app threats on a per device basis in the world during a study across 160 countries from February 2021 and March this year (stock photo)
Android devices only accounted for 1.2 per cent of malicious app threats, indicating they were less frequently or their users were not as easily fooled.
This study was conducted by Lookout, a mobile device security provider that analyses and identifies risks on 100,000 apps a day.
‘Australians have become complacent when it comes to downloading applications on their phones, at a time when risks are higher than ever,’ Asia-Pacific director Don Tan told The Australian.
‘Across the nation they’ve been using their phones to check in, order food and more… this is common usage of phones has perhaps bred a complacency about the apps they’re downloading.
‘They need to become more vigilant than ever.’
Mr Tan suggested that, ‘downloading from the official app stores (pictured)’ can be a major step to reducing malicious threats on our devices
Mr Tan said it was important for iOS users not to make assumptions about the security of their Apple device.
‘Most users don’t have any security software installed on their devices… when it’s easy [to compromise], hackers will typically take advantage of it,’ he said.
Mr Tan suggested downloading from official app stores was a good way to reduce malicious threats.