The latest mobile threat landscape report for 2024 from security experts at Lookout has revealed, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, that iOS devices are "more exposed to phishing attacks" than their Android counterparts. Across quarter three of the year, Lookout analysts identified iOS devices targeted by threat actors more often, 18.4%, when it came to phishing attacks than Android devices at just 11.4%. Here's what you need to know.

Analysts at data-centric cloud security company Lookout used the data from an AI-powered mobile dataset of 220 million devices and 360 million apps, as well as "billions of web items" to determine their analysis as found in the Q3 2024 Mobile Threat Landscape Report. To stick with the statistics for a moment, the Lookout security cloud has identified more than. 473 million malicious sites, including those indulging in phishing attacks, since 2019.

The Lookout report, studying the enterprise side of the threat fence, found that not only is iOS more popular in this setting than Android, at least among the Lookout user base with "more than two times the number of iOS devices than Android devices," but it's also way more popular with attackers as well. The increased threat, therefore, could just come down to simple math: more devices and more exposure. However, Lookout said that 19% of enterprise iOS devices were exposed to at least one mobile phishing attack in each of the first three quarters of 2024, compared to just 10.9% of enterprise Android devices in the same period.

There's no doubt that threat actors are increasingly targeting mobile devices, smartphones and tablets alike, in order to obtain credentials with smart phishing tactics such as AI-powered impersonation attacks heading up the charge. "As cyber threats evolve, we're seeing more and more attacks targeting mobile devices as the gateway to corporate cloud apps that house sensitive data," David Richardson, vice president of Endpoint at Lookout, said.

This doesn't mean that consumers can breathe easily, far from it. Phishing attacks, generally email-based, are getting ever more advanced, and whether you are an iOS or Android user, you need to be aware of what these are you want to be prepared for the onslaught to come in 2025.

I have reached out to both Apple and Google for a statement, but in the meantime, I would suggest reading this article for a fascinating exploration of some of the ways to best protect yourself from the modern phishing threat regardless of whether you use iOS or Android devices.