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Is your phone now at risk?<\/p>\n
ullstein bild via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Take this seriously. You must now check if your Android phone is at risk from \u201cbanking trojans and spyware, backdoors and data stealers.\u201d There\u2019s a good chance it is. More than 30% of all Androids do not have Google\u2019s critical new updates.<\/p>\n
The warning comes from Zimperium<\/a>, which reports that threats now \u201cbypass simple signature-based defenses by using advanced evasion and dynamic payload delivery.\u201d It says this mandates \u201ctimely patching to reduce exposure to mobile malware.\u201d<\/p>\n ForbesSamsung Leak Details \u2018Surprising\u2019 Galaxy S26 UpgradeBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n But Zimperium more than any other security firm has highlighted the growing threat from smartphones that have fallen off support. And while staying safe by \u201ccautious app sourcing, minimized permissions (and) continuous behavior-based monitoring\u201d is critical, nothing is as critical as ensuring a phone\u2019s OS is updated.<\/p>\n Zimperium<\/a> says that “at any given point in the year, over 50% of mobile devices are running outdated OS versions, and a significant number are compromised or infected.\u201d That number divides between phones that can update but haven\u2019t, and those that no longer have access to fixes. That latter category is now some 33% of Android phones.<\/p>\n Last month was \u201cDangerous December,<\/a>\u201d with Google and Apple both warning of attacks against their smartphones and releasing emergency updates. None of the phones now out of support have those fixes. All those phones are now at risk.<\/p>\n While a much lower percentage of iPhones than Androids are usually missing updates, that has changed in recent weeks. Apple\u2019s decision to mandate any device newer than iPhone 11 to upgrade to iOS 26 to receive new security fixes has exposed hundreds of millions of devices<\/a>. That\u2019s business as usual for Android<\/a>.<\/p>\n