Jon3G
3rd May 2005, 09:28 PM
By Team Register
Published Monday 2nd May 2005 10:04 GMT
Most smartphone users are aware of the increasing risk of viruses attacking mobile devices, but they still store sensitive data on their phones.
That's according to a survey of 300 American adults by security company Symantec, which revealed that 73 per cent of smart phone users know about viruses and other attacks that target the devices.
Smart phones combine features such as email and internet access with mobile phone functions, and are becoming increasingly popular worldwide; in the first quarter of 2005 shipments of smartphones rocketed by 137 per cent. Businesses in particular are drawn to the functionality of smart phones and are increasingly equipping mobile staff with the devices. With increasing business use, data stored on the phones could potentially be of a sensitive nature, a fact that concerned Symantec survey respondents
Around 70 per cent were concerned about the possibility of virus writers stealing or corrupting confidential information stored on their smartphones.
"As smart phones replace lower-end devices, this will drive the take-up of applications and usage, and carriers will continue to push new services that send all kinds of content to the phone," said Matt Ekram, mobile security product manager at Symantec. "That will open up a lot of opportunity for hackers and virus writers to do something malicious, and we still need to educate the public more effectively as to what they should do to protect their devices."
Since the Cabir worm was discovered in July 2004 a number of other viruses targeting smart phones have emerged. Cabir targeted mobile phones running the Symbian operating system. Some experts looked upon its creation as the beginning of a new trend whereby digital bugs crawl through mobile networks in the same way they infest the internet.
More recently, mobile phone antivirus software company SimWorks reported that 52 new Trojan horses are hidden inside several different games and other readily available mobile phone software. These Trojan horses target only mobiles that use the Symbian operating system, the system used by a vast majority of smart phones.
Despite these threats, respondents to the Symantec survey indicated they were not afraid to use their smartphone applications with 64 per cent saying they send and read email on their phones, while more than 56 per cent use instant messenger on their phones and 46 per cent access the internet. In addition, 41 per cent of respondents said that they conduct online banking functions via their smartphones.
"The kinds of applications that are most popularly used will help dictate how much security you need on the smart phone," said Ekram "We were surprised by the sheer number of people already doing transactions, disclosing confidential information or using online banking, and you can guess that is where the future attacks will be aimed."
© ElectricNews.Net
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/02/symantec_smartphone_secuity_survey/
Published Monday 2nd May 2005 10:04 GMT
Most smartphone users are aware of the increasing risk of viruses attacking mobile devices, but they still store sensitive data on their phones.
That's according to a survey of 300 American adults by security company Symantec, which revealed that 73 per cent of smart phone users know about viruses and other attacks that target the devices.
Smart phones combine features such as email and internet access with mobile phone functions, and are becoming increasingly popular worldwide; in the first quarter of 2005 shipments of smartphones rocketed by 137 per cent. Businesses in particular are drawn to the functionality of smart phones and are increasingly equipping mobile staff with the devices. With increasing business use, data stored on the phones could potentially be of a sensitive nature, a fact that concerned Symantec survey respondents
Around 70 per cent were concerned about the possibility of virus writers stealing or corrupting confidential information stored on their smartphones.
"As smart phones replace lower-end devices, this will drive the take-up of applications and usage, and carriers will continue to push new services that send all kinds of content to the phone," said Matt Ekram, mobile security product manager at Symantec. "That will open up a lot of opportunity for hackers and virus writers to do something malicious, and we still need to educate the public more effectively as to what they should do to protect their devices."
Since the Cabir worm was discovered in July 2004 a number of other viruses targeting smart phones have emerged. Cabir targeted mobile phones running the Symbian operating system. Some experts looked upon its creation as the beginning of a new trend whereby digital bugs crawl through mobile networks in the same way they infest the internet.
More recently, mobile phone antivirus software company SimWorks reported that 52 new Trojan horses are hidden inside several different games and other readily available mobile phone software. These Trojan horses target only mobiles that use the Symbian operating system, the system used by a vast majority of smart phones.
Despite these threats, respondents to the Symantec survey indicated they were not afraid to use their smartphone applications with 64 per cent saying they send and read email on their phones, while more than 56 per cent use instant messenger on their phones and 46 per cent access the internet. In addition, 41 per cent of respondents said that they conduct online banking functions via their smartphones.
"The kinds of applications that are most popularly used will help dictate how much security you need on the smart phone," said Ekram "We were surprised by the sheer number of people already doing transactions, disclosing confidential information or using online banking, and you can guess that is where the future attacks will be aimed."
© ElectricNews.Net
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/02/symantec_smartphone_secuity_survey/