Here’s a piece of good news. There are over 10.8 million apps in over 200 app stores (the mobile platforms from where we download), making our lives easier by increasing our productivity and offering a variety of infotainment stuff.

But, here’s some bad news too. A third of them (3.3 million) of them come with malware, which can harm you and your phone in a variety of ways. From stealing contacts to devouring money from your mobile wallets – the malware can make your life miserable.

The two-thirds of all those accessing Internet in India are accessing it through mobile shows how vulnerable the Indian users are to cyber attacks. A latest survey by Internet security solutions firm Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report indicates that dependency on mobile devices has gone up significantly in the last two years as mobile penetration increased significantly.

“The survey, conducted in 14 Indian cities in May, shows that people are checking the mobiles at least 41 times a day,” Ritesh Chopra, Country Manager (India) of Symantec told Business Line .

Talking on the highlights of the survey, there’s a widespread threat perception on the likely adverse financial impact of the cyber attacks.

“Close to 50 per cent of Indians have over 20 apps on their smartphones, amongst which mobile wallets and e-commerce apps are among the top five applications used. People are unwittingly giving permissions to unknown and unverified developers to download apps. A good number of apps are fake and could make your phones their slaves,” he said.

“About 81 per cent of the 1,005 respondents feel the risk to mobile is just as high, if not higher as laptops or desktops,” he pointed out.

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