An internal memo from the US Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice was published on Tuesday as a joint release, warning government workers about the sheer number of malware threats plaguing the Android platform.

The government found that 79 per cent of mobile OS malware threats in 2012 targeted Android devices, where as the same study also found that only 0.7 per cent of all mobile OS malware threats targeted Apple's iOS. Most of the Android security threats were SMS Trojans, root kits and fake Google Play domains.

The government cited Android's open architecture and dominance in terms of market share as reasons why the platform is a primary target for malware attacks.

Read: Apple's Phil Schiller takes a stab at Android: 'Be safe out there'

As for the other operating systems, such as Windows Mobile and BlackBerry, they each accounted for 0.3 per cent of all threats. However, the government also provided a chart that illustrated Nokia’s Symbian platform as being the second-highest target of mobile threats at 19 per cent.

While the joint release may come as shock to some, others will know that it's general safe practice to just keep devices and software current, as well as to do research before blindly installing apps.