According to the report of the RiskIQ "2019 Mobile App Threat Landscape report", the app store that hosted the most malicious Applications in 2019, was the 9Game.

9Game is a portal, which gives the opportunity to the players to users download for free Android Games. However, it was found to be the app store with most malicious applications (in total) but also with most additions of new malicious applications.

According to the report, in 2019, the following were loaded 61,669 new malicious applications at 9Game.

The Google Play Store, was in second place in the list of more new additions malicious applications. But the difference from 9Game was very big. Google Play Store was found with 25,647 new malicious Applications. The top five are completed by Zhushou of Qihoo 360, the Feral app store and the Vmall app store of Huawei.

However, the Play Store was not on the list of app stores that have the highest concentration malicious applications. This category includes: (1) 9Game, (2) Feral app store, (3) Vmall app store, (4) Xiaomi app store and (5) Zhushou store.

RiskIQ: Absence of App Store of Apple

RiskIQ researchers observed that the app store Apple was not on either list. This is, rather, the result of Apple's thorough and individual application review process, which helps to more easily identify malicious applications. In contrast, most stores use automated processes.

“Η Apple αντιμετωπίζει το App Store της όπως το Fort Knox και σπάνια φιλοξενεί επικίνδυνες εφαρμογές”, ανέφερε η RiskIQ.

“Όμως και οι έλεγχοι Security of Google βελτιώνονται συνεχώς…. ο αριθμός των blacklisted εφαρμογών στο Play Store μειώθηκε κατά 76.4 % το 2019″, πρόσθεσε η εταιρεία ασφαλείας.

According to RiskIQ, the number of malicious applications observed globally in 2019 decreased by 20% compared to 2018 (from 213,279 to 170,796 applications).

More new apps appear in China

The researchers pointed out that the downward trend of malicious apps is surprising as more and more apps are appearing. The company said that about 8.9 million new Applications were uploaded to app stores in 2019 (18% more than in 2018).

RiskIQ says that most of these new applications ("clean" and malicious) come from Chinese developers.

According to RiskIQ, in 2019, the top 3 app stores, in terms of new app downloads, were from China: APK GK (1,687,757 new applications), APK Pure (890,479 new applications) and Android Apps APK (809,818 new applications).

Google (714,678 new apps) and Apple (465,676 new applications) were in fourth and fifth place respectively.