A frequent question I’m asked is, “What of Android malware?” Well, actually, the real question is more like, “Can I get a virus on my Android phone/tablet?” The answer is always “Yes,” but the rates of infection show that your risk is really quite low.
According to Google’s “Android Security State of the Union” report, the infection rate for Android devices in 2014 was well under one percent.
InfoWorld reported back in 2012 that the rate of infection among PCs was around 30 percent. Now the infection rate on PCs is decreasing as computer security gets beefed up, but it’s difficult to imagine PCs have an infection rate as low as Android’s < 1%.
In fact, when you use only the Google Play Store for your apps, the infection rate drops even further, down to about 0.1 percent. That’s pretty good!
