According to study by Web security and optimization company Blue Coat, nearly one quarter of all malware on mobile devices comes from pornographic websites, CNN Money reported.
Although less than one percent of mobile web traffic is porn, users' risk of inadvertently downloading malware on their devices increases three-fold when viewing porn on a mobile device, making the activity potentially more dangerous than watching porn from a PC.
Watching porn on mobile and tablet hardware led to more instances of malware than email spam, malicious websites and fake apps combined, the report said.
Malware is software intended to damage or disable computers and computer systems and usually downloaded and installed inadvertently.
The report stated that part of the problem is that the nature of mobile devices makes it more difficult to distinguish legitimate content from malicious. Where a computer user may be able detect suspicious content by hovering the mouse over a link before clicking or by discerning the credibility of a site based on its design or other features, mobile users do not have the same options.
The report also stated that major security firms have predicted that this will be the year that mobile devices become major targets for cybercriminals.
"No matter how tantalizing a link might look on a desktop, there are cues that you shouldn't go there, such as an address that just doesn't look safe," Hugh Johnson, Blue Coat's chief security strategist said, according to the report. "When you click a link on a mobile phone, it's harder to know what form of Russian roulette they're playing."
Attacks appear to be mirroring tactics used on traditional computers, but security experts predict more sophisticated mobile cybercrime schemes will be in play soon, the report said.
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