According to McAfee, security threats and malware to cell phones increased sharply by 46 percent in 2010 compared with 2009.

The internet security company revealed this in its fourth-quarter report, released on Tuesday according to Reuters. The reason for this increase in security threats is the ever-expanding use of smartphones and tablets.

“As more users access the Internet from an ever-expanding pool of devices – computer, tablet, smartphone or Internet TV – web-based threats will continue to grow in size and sophistication,” the McAfee report announced in its report.

The company also singled out PDF and Adobe Flash Player as the favorite targets of cybercriminals because of Adobe’s increasing popularity among mobile devices and the more frequent use of the PDF file format as a platform for malware, according to The Inquirer.

The report also found that mobile phones are more susceptible to attacks from a range of sources because security software isn’t an option like for personal computers. “McAfee Labs found that within the top 100 results of the top daily search terms, 51 percent led to malicious sites, and on average each of these poisoned results pages contained more than five malicious links,” The report added, according to Digital Trends.

Like many other internet security companies, The McAfee report also highlighted a decline in spam. This is due to the fact that we are currently in a “transition period,” after several of spamming botnets went offline last year. The decrease in spam is significant at 62 percent, especially in the second quarter and half of the first quarter of last year, according to Reuters.

According to McAfee, Apple remains a big target for malicious attacks because of its increasing popularity and dominance in the PC and mobile market, but its products are by their very design, less vulnerable. Apple has also repeatedly refused to use Adobe’s Flash software because of security concerns, and this report validates its decision, and will elevate its “levels of smugness,” according to The Inquirer. Learn more about  McAfee Total Protection.