A study by Bitdefender released on Tuesday indicated more threats to Internet user privacy amid large jumps in adware, malware and Trojans that target Android devices.

The report said adware went up 61 per cent worldwide in the five months through January 2013, malware grew 27 per cent and Trojans increased 37 per cent in December 2012.

However, the increase in these three was accompanied by a rise in number of malware and adware detection.

The spike is adware happened in the last two months of 2012 as developers used the yearend holiday to generate cash by sneaking in adware.

Bitdefender pointed out that while adware had become more intrusive and apparently bent on collection more sensitive information such as phone numbers, contacts and emails addresses that are broadcast to third-party services or sold to the highest bidder, the line between legitimate software and actual malware is becoming more blurry.

Bitdefender, which created on the world's fastest and most effective lines of internationally certified security software, said that since most Internet users turn their personal devices into work devices, it makes sense to restrict access to personal data and sensitive files.

Dirk Sigurdson, director of engineering for Mobilisafe at Rapid7, explained that one reason why many Android developers resort o adware is most paid apps are not popular with Android users. He said that chances of customers paying for an app in the Android market is very low compared to the iOS market.

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