A few months ago, Google opened the Android Market to allow anyone to load software but now studies show that an average of one in every five applications had access to personal information , which could lead to all sorts of viruses, spyware, and malware being created to attack users.  

 In July, 2010, the Global Mobile Security Center of NetQin Mobile Inc., a mobile security service provider, found the first spyware application -- Carrot App -- available on the Android operating system. The application disguises itself as a calculator that calculates service tips for the end user. In actuality, the application would have been installed by someone else and set up to send an email once every hour to the installer's email address. The email would contain all the SMS that were sent and received from that phone over the past hour. This is one of many ways an application could be created to leak out personal information of the actual user of the device. Since the finding, NetQin has increased their virus database to ensure full security against such programs. 

 Recently, several other mobile security firms also detected malicious software in the wild. Amongst these malicious applications is a media player which claims to be harmless, but is a Trojan horse that begins to send text messages to premium-rate phone numbers, without the owner's knowledge, which would result in money passing from the user's account to that of a cyber criminal. 

 Approximately 18,600 Android-based applications were created in July 2010, which was a huge increase compared with the 1669 that were created in July last year. According to the study of mobile users in the USA by Nielsen Wire, a research company, Google's Android OS has shown the most significant expansion in market share among current subscribers. With the above said, virus authors are expected to see Android systems as a growing target.