Sunday 20 May 2012

Malware a Expanding Concern for Mobile Devices

By Oliver David


The Goode Intelligence?s 3rd annual mSecurity Survey has shown that businesses and organizations aren?t taking their employee?s ?bring your own device? (BYOD) to work seriously. The survey found that 71% of companies interviewed allowed BYOD smartphone use. About 47% of these companies said that they are aware that company data was stored on these devices.

With mobile malware incidents on the rise in 2011 with about 24% reporting evidence of infection, up from 9% in 2010 and 7% in 2009. With numerous of those smartphones not becoming managed by businesses using the exact same security protections as Computer as well as other business devices, it is not surprising that fewer than 1 in five have anti-malware and only 50% use some kind of information encryption.

"The past 3 years happen to be extraordinary for mobile and you will find no signs of this abating. Smartphones and tablet computer systems are getting a transformational impact on the way that an organization does company and manages info," stated survey author, Alan Goode.

"There is really a large query more than whether or not info security experts can maintain up using the pace of alter presently noticed with intelligent mobile devices (SMD) and may handle the dangers related with them."

The survey confirmed that Apple's iPhone is presently the dominant device, present in 77% of within the surveyed companies, ahead of BlackBerry on 70% and also the quickly increasing Android on 65%. Using usb encyption is a great way to secure data.

Mobile malware is regional in scope, which reflects the culture of businesses in different countries and the way mobile applications are offered. Asia and Russia in particular have had problems with deadly Android apps being used for tariff fraud, a phenomenon that has not been a problem in Europe or the Americas.

Also difficult to determine is whether BYOD itself is fuelling a rise in mobile malware although the relatively unprotected nature of many of the devices uncovered by Goode would tend to suggest some connection. What is common is that mobile users both at work and at home are installing a variety of games and social networking apps on their devices many that are potentially malicious. This opens up devices to potential unintended consequences-such as data leakage and malware.




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