"," some of it bordering on spyware, continues to be a problem in the Android market, according to Kindsight. It estimates that three percent of all mobile devices host some form of that software.

While security software aimed at from mobile devices has been introduced into the market, the report explained, it remains to be seen how effective it will be in mitigating the problem.

Similar efforts were made in the past to address spyware problems in the Windows world, but the Android environment is a horse of a different color. "One key difference between these ad-funded Android apps and the traditional Window's variety is that the Android variety is being distributed from the Google Play App Store, which lends them considerable legitimacy," the report said.