Trend Micro launches Android security app

Android

Trend Micro has introduced an Android security app as it looks to ramp up efforts in the mobile sphere.

The Trend Micro Mobile Security app promises to be one of many such offerings from the vendor and focuses on protecting digital files and banking transactions over Android smartphones.

Other features include download protection, call and text filtering as well as 'safe surfing' to help counter phishing efforts.

"Trend Micro has a proven track record of being a long-time leader in the mobile security market, from protecting Windows Mobile 2003 devices to our recent Trend Smart Surfing iPhone application," said Carol Carpenter, general manager of Trend Micro consumer and small business.

"With the Android platforms rapid growth, cyber criminals will be rushing to take advantage of these mobile devices anyway they can."

Trend uses cloud-based security intelligence to help protect Android users from today's threats in real-time.

Given the number of threats which have targeted the Google Android operating system, users may do well to invest in some extra protection.

Last month, research from AdaptiveMobile suggested malware aimed at the OS had quadrupled in 2010 in comparison to 2009.

Meanwhile, Google said it would issue a fix for an Android bug that saw text messages sent to the wrong recipients, albeit in a small number of cases.

"It took us some time to reproduce this issue, as it appears that it's only occurring very rarely," explained Nik Kralevich, an engineer on the Android security team, posting on a forum.

"Even so, we've now managed to both reproduce it and develop a fix that we will deploy."

Tom Brewster

Tom Brewster is currently an associate editor at Forbes and an award-winning journalist who covers cyber security, surveillance, and privacy. Starting his career at ITPro as a staff writer and working up to a senior staff writer role, Tom has been covering the tech industry for more than ten years and is considered one of the leading journalists in his specialism.

He is a proud alum of the University of Sheffield where he secured an undergraduate degree in English Literature before undertaking a certification from General Assembly in web development.