Free is not protection: 40% of free applications on iOS and 80% on Android are hacked

Even if you make your application free, it will not save you from hackers, says Arxan Technology, a computer security company.

According to the company, more than 40% of the 15 most popular free apps on iOS and more than 80% of the most popular free apps on Android are hacked. It is not surprising that for paid applications this figure is much higher - 92% of the 100 most popular paid apps for iOS and 100% of the most popular paid apps on Android were hacked.





Arxan says the most typical hack is a free copy. For applications that are already free, it’s removing ads, opening in-game purchases and bypassing security measures.

Hacked versions of free and paid applications are also often associated with malware, McAfee says this already. Now mobile viruses have reached a peak, and among them there are two of the fastest growing categories - ransomware, programs that block the device or user data and require ransom, and botnets that turn mobile devices into “zombies” for DDoS attacks or spamming.

Conclusions from the current situation Arxan makes clear:

• you need to make application protection a priority;
• pay special attention to the protection of payments, transactions, important data;
• consider the security of mobile applications as a completely new sphere, without applying the old methods of protecting web security to it;
• focus on protecting the integrity of the application, protecting against reengineering and interference with the work.