Mobiles too are Vulnerable
They
may stay cocooned in the comforts of your pocket, but your mobile phones
are as susceptible to infectious attacks as the desktops in your rooms.
Security technology company McAfee has revealed today (Feb. 16) half of
all global manufacturers reported mobile malware infections, spam
attacks, and third party application problems caused network capacity
issues.
Finland-based cyber security company F-Secure recently warned that “SMS
Curse of Silence” exploit can crash the SMS function of the
smartphone. That means users won’t be able to receive new text messages.
The company’s mobile security solution promises to protect against this
denial of service.
The
McAfee Mobile Security Report 2009 says that almost half (48%) of
manufacturers agreed that the cost related to patching and fixing
affected devices had significantly impacted their business. And concern
over the security of mobile device functions is high; 81% of
manufacturers are worried about mobile payments; 69% are not convinced
by the safety of installing applications and 66% are concerned about
devices’ Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Three
quarters (75%) agree that carriers and manufacturers should carry the
cost of security and only 12% think that users should be involved with
handling security measures.
Voice
or text spam attacks have hit the greatest number of devices (in 2008
incidents affecting over 1 million devices were reported by 17% of
manufacturers). There has also been a rise in the number of issues with
third party applications and content with prematurely released
applications causing severe network capacity issues or crashing and
locking devices.
Almost
half (48%) of manufacturers highlighted that patching and fixing devices
is an expensive business, 36% stated that security incidents have had a
negative impact on their brand or public relations and almost a third
again (32%) said that security problems have prompted a significant loss
in credibility or user satisfaction.
Over
70% of manufacturers, according to the McAfee report, agree that
addressing mobile security is critical as they look to the future and
are taking control of device protection measures.
Three-quarters believe that the cost of security should be borne by
carrier/service providers (44%) and by manufacturers (31%) rather than
by the user and more than two thirds of mobile manufacturing companies
(69%) believe that device integrated security is the most effective and
efficient way to protect devices.
The
research was conducted by Informa Telecoms and Media and incorporated
over 30 international mobile device manufacturers.
