BT backpedals on claims almost every Android device has malware

Late last week, I wrote about some eye-raising statements made by a British Telecom (BT) security expert at the NetEvents Americas. Now, BT has backpedaled on the claims. To refresh your memory, here's what Jill Knesek, head of the global security practice at BT, said:

We analyzed more than 1,000 Android applications and found a third compromised with some form of active or dormant malware. Almost every device is compromised with some kind of malware, although often it's not clear if that code is active or what it is doing.

I noted how very skeptical I was of these assertions, even though the Android malware issue has been growing rather quickly (last month was particularly bad). Here's what I said: "I'm not sure which 1,000 Android apps BT chose to use in its analysis, but I doubt they were randomly picked. I find it very hard to believe that one third of Android apps contain malware and that almost every device has one of said apps installed."