It's no longer fun and games.

A new report from security researchers Kaspersky underlines that mobile malware has become bigbusiness, with a stunning 98.05% of attacks aimed at devicesrunning Android.

Apple iOS devices do not even register as significant targets inKaspersky's count.

Kaspersky ominously noted in a long blog post outlining thefindings: “Most mobile malware is designed to steal users'money.”

Kaspersky added: “Over the year, the number of mobile malwaremodifications designed for phishing, the theft of credit cardinformation and money increased by a factor of 19.7.”

According to Kaspersky, “A total of 143,211 new modifications of maliciousprograms targeting mobile devices were detected in all of2013.”

Kaspersky itemized three principal ways that malware isdistributed: via infections of legitimate websites; distributionvia alternative apps stores (that is, other than Google Play); and,distribution via botnets that mass distribute SMS with links toinfected files.

Kaspersky crowned the rise of mobile banking Trojans a trend ofthe year.

The company elaborated: “2013 was marked by a rapid rise in thenumber of Android banking Trojans. The cyber industry of mobilemalware is becoming more focused on making profits moreeffectively, i.e., mobile phishing, theft of credit cardinformation, money transfers from bank cards to mobile phones andfrom phones to the criminals' e-wallets. Cybercriminals have becomeobsessed by this method of illegal earnings: at the beginning ofthe year we knew only 67 banking Trojans, but by the end of theyear there were already 1321 unique samples.”

The vast differences in regional infection rates are crucial tonote. Russia had 40% of all attacked individuals. India placedsecond with 7.9%.

The United States is in 8th place – behind Kazakhstan, theUkraine, Germany and the United Kingdom – with 2.13% of attackedusers.