The days of only having to worry about malware on your computer are gone. The folks over at Lookout Mobile Security have found that Android (News - Alert) users are two and a half times more likely to encounter malware on their mobile device than they were only six months ago.  

The explosion of the smartphone and Web apps markets has created a new target for malware purveyors, and they are taking advantage of it. The security firm found that as many as 1 million mobile users were affected by malware in the first half of 2011.

One of the ways that attackers spread malware is by creating unique apps and placing them on markets and download sites. Malware writers will also take legitimate applications and repackage them with malicious code.

After combing through the markets, Lookout found that the number of unique apps loaded with malware increased from 80 to 400 in the last six months.

Another technique that is being employed routinely today is called Malvertising, which is the act of using seemingly legitimate mobile ads to redirect users to sites that automatically download malware.

The end result can be very costly. The security firm references one such attack, known as GGTracker, which signs Android users up for a text subscription services that can cost as much as $50 per month.

The difficulty with responding to these attacks is that malware writers continue to modify the malicious apps and links.

Kevin Mahaffey, CTO and co-founder of Lookout Mobile Security, told Venture Beat that the firm found 89 different variants of a highly prevalent piece of malware known as DroidDream. 

“We’ve seen the prevalence and the level of sophistication of mobile malware attacks evolve significantly in the first six months of 2011,” Mahaffey noted in a statement. “We expect this trend to continue as more and more people adopt mobile devices.”

So what are users to do? Mahaffey suggests that people only download apps from trusted markets and sites. In addition, users should always look at the URL of a website to make certain that it matches the appropriate address. Mobile security tools can also be purchased to help avoid malware concerns.

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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell