Mobile Phones: The Next Frontier for Malware

For PC users, protecting against malware just comes with the territory. Security software vendors have thankfully reached some level of equilibrium with the malware developers- still one step behind and reacting to the latest threats, but doing so quickly and effectively enough that there is a sort of malware stalemate.

I won't underestimate the malware developers and assume they aren't capable of wreaking tremendous havoc, but there are easier targets out there. Not long ago, we referred to those telecommunications devices in our pockets as cell phones. Now they are 'mobile devices'. The reason is that they no longer operate on analog cellular technology and they are no longer just phones. They are mini mobile computers. They have email, instant messaging, surf the Web, and more. They have almost everything that a PC has...except protection.

The Georgia Tech Information Security Center released the Emerging Cyber Threats Forecast for 2009 (PDF). According to a Network World report, an IBM Internet Security Systems researcher involved in the study noted "Most people have been trained to enter social security numbers, credit card numbers, [and] bank account numbers ... over the phone while interacting with voice response systems. Criminals will exploit this social conditioning to perpetrate voice phishing and identity theft."

In general, cell phones (mobile phones, mobile devices, wireless phones...whatever you want to call them) lack any serious security features. The Network World article cites a quote that "proper antivirus protection would drain too much of a phone's battery and thus prove to be unpractical." That may be true, but having your phone compromised with some sort of mobile device botnet that launches a denial-of-service (DoS) attack against the wireless network or steals the user's account or financial information is also quite impractical. Researchers need to figure out how to find some balance to protect the mobile phone from becoming the next big malware frontier.