“The mobile security solution market is at a nascent stage in India. About 50 to 60 per cent of mobile phone users like to use advanced features on their phones. The market for high-end mobile phones is increasing, and security is a function of this growth,” says RSA, Security Division of EMC Country Manager India and SAARC Amuleek Bijral.

Acccording to IDC, companies globally will spend $1 billion on mobile security and antivirus software by 2008 - 2009.

According to Naik, in the last six months the number of mobile threats on the global landscape has doubled, showing a growing trend towards mobile devices as the hacker’s next destination. Apart from consumers, employees using mobile devices to access corporate network are increasing. “Mobiles are very useful to access corporate information specially when on the move,” says an MNC employee from Bangalore.

Over 50 million people in India use smart phones and now two million people are joining this club every month. As the usage of smart phones increases, mobile operators today have a way of offering their enterprise customers centrally managed protection for smart phones against malicious mobile code such as SMS Spam and viruses.

Mobile devices are increasingly coming under attack. Mobile handsets with wi-fi cards are prone to attacks as they connect to a public network and, at the same time the organisation’s network.

“Other services on mobile phones that might make them vulnerable include the ability to open e-mail attachments and removable storage cards. Attack on the mobile devices/phones not only makes an impact on the end-user but also the enterprises that would allow a user to access its resources, data and systems through mobile devices. Increasing popularity of data-centric mobile phones and personal digital assistant (PDAs), devices can become an easy target for virus writers in the coming days,” Bijral adds.

Symantec plans to introduce a 90-day trial version of an anti-virus package for mobiles, just as it provides for laptops and desktops. “We are exploring the options of partnering with service providers and handset vendors. Currently, with a new Airtel connection there is an additional offer for Symantec security solutions,” says Naik.

Form of threats

SMiShing: Use SMS to transport spam and phishing attacks to the user’s phone.

Snoopware: Can secretly activate the microphone and camera on a device to snoop on conversations in the immediate vicinity of the phone.

This can be dangerous to users as sensitive business and personal data may be passed along in conversation. Worms, trojans, spam, keyloggers, jacking scripts, and intruders are the most common mobile threats that the average wireless user faces.

Source: DeccanHerald