AVG Technologies has warned of an increasing number of cyber criminals using social networks to spread mobile malware in its Community Powered Threat report. AVG detected 360,000 malicious events on mobile during Q1, 2012 – and, according to the report, Android devices are particularly vulnerable to attack.

“We detected a big increase in the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to target Android users,” says Yuval Ben-Itzhak, AVG chief technology officer. “Cyber criminals are finding it very convenient to distribute their malware straight to a mobile device via these networks. The growth of the Android platform has been phenomenal, which has not gone unnoticed with cyber criminals who have discovered it to be a lucrative target for their malware. In 2011, Google had to remove over 100 malicious apps from the Android market.”

With most mobile devices being tied into operator billing systems, monetization of malware is a lot easier for criminals than on desktop. The report outlines how Facebook and Twitter can be used to infect devices with malware.

You can download the full report here.