Virus firms says protect your smartphone from viruses

There’s an interesting piece on mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk, where the CTO of a company called UMU Mobile makes a statement about people needing to be more vigilant about the security on their Mobile devices.

Peter Harrison says that since the advent of mobile devices are more capable, we are at risk of a virus causing major damage – such as file wipes, hard resets, or unexpected call charges. He says that the advancement in Operating Systems, and also wireless network types, means it’s now easy and lucrative for malware writers to exploit devices. His final thrust, and not unexpected given he works for a Mobile Security company, is that we should consider some sort of firewall and anti-virus equivalent for our smartphones.

virus-smartphone

Well I’ve got to say I’m really not on board with many of the arguments that are made. Having myself worked for a Mobile company with an AV offering, it became clear to me that much of what is malware is created by hobby-hackers, and even then, it’s not that common.

In addition, the mobile companies are seen as more of a gatekeeper to subscribers than say ISPs are for fixed-line InterWeb users, and so there’s an expectation that my service provider will stop viruses getting in to the mobile network. Given the lack of viruses that have gone mainstream, and the fact that Series60 has unfortunately borne the (small) brunt of smartphone viruses so far it seems, are the rest of us really that bothered at the moment? Will we be in say 18 months time? Doubt it.

But what say you IntoMobile readers? Should we be wary?

[Via: mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk]

About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.

Ashu

I am not gonna bite that bait

I will rather trust my intelligence and be careful while receiving bluetooth messages ratger than invest $39 inan anti virus
Peter Harrison

First up, we are UMU Global, not UMU Mobile

I would agree with you that the threat from malware on mobile devices is currently fairly low. However, there has been a shift away from hobby-hackers and towards criminals attempting to make money. There is also a problem with commercial spyware such as Flexispy. And there is more malware out there than people think. Some network operators tell us that 8% or more of their SMS/MMS message traffic is coming from infected devices. We also talk to distributors who tell us that a significant proportion of the handsets returned under guarantee are not faulty but have been infected with malware.

Network operators can provide some protection but most of the methods currently used by malware to spread cannot be blocked by the operator.

It is true that users can avoid most of the malware by being sensible but sadly, just as in the PC world, most users aren’t careful enough. They happily download and install software which claims to reduce their SMS costs, for example, only to find that it actually sends SMS messages to a premium rate number. They aren’t sufficiently security conscious. I’d like them to think more about what they are doing.

There are, of course, other threats to security such as theft. Software can’t stop your handset from being stolen but it can make sure that any valuable data on the device is protected.

I hope there will never be a real need for security software on mobile handsets. It would kill our business but, altruistically, it would be the best outcome for all of us. Sadly, I expect that mobile devices will increasingly attract the same kind of attacks that PCs currently experience. Careful, security conscious users may never need security software. Sadly, I suspect that most users will not be careful enough.