Growth of mobile malware

Increasing use of smartphones & resulting volumes of personal & financial information on those devices mean that criminals will find them increasingly attractive targets.

http://www.idgconnect.com/blog-abstract/3676/the-growth-mobile-malware / mobile malware emerge from proof-of-concept proof of concept stag tool cyber criminal criminals cybercriminal cybercriminals make money illegally huge growth mobile malware different factors factor huge numbers number smart phone phones smartphones variety interesting data stored device device contact contacts photograph photographs text SMS messages message banking credentials credential network social networking logins login log in growing use mobile devices device business lack of awareness organization organizations organisation organisations mobile threats threat survey commissioned 55% businesses considered mobile devices work place workplace serious threat threats variety varieties mobile malware types SMS Trojans SMS messages premium rate premium-rate numbers number potential victims victim persuaded download Trojan application masquerade masquerades adult content cyber criminal criminals cybercriminals cybercriminal search engine optimisation techniques product appear top web searches search Trojans designed steal confidential data device Internet exercise exercising remote control over compromised devices co-ordinate co-ordinating cybercriminal activities download downloading downloads functionality new configuration informatio malware already installed banking Trojan target private banking data mobile variant notorious ZeuS banking Trojan intercepts SMS messages measage authentication bank transactions transaction allowing cybercriminals assume victim victims victim's online identity focused theft thief steal social networking login credentials credential stealing personal information social networking sites potential piece information together commit identity theft securing secure mobile data mobile malware growing volume sophistication only part of the picture increasing increase amounts data being stored mobile devices including confidential business data device unprotected password passwords PIN PINs data stored seldom encrypted encrypt devices lose steal stolen theft thief increasing risk data leakage task secure securing data become harder business businesses employee employees increasingly conduct business outside workplace work place heterogeneous mix endpoint devices hard harder manage geographically distributed diverse businesses growing threat from mobile malware risk data leakage future mobile malware growth continue increase increasingly conduct business sensitive transactions via mobile devicefollow the money mobile banking shopping popular popularity threats target targeting these devices financial data key target personal data harvested frame targeted attacks societal level combat increase mobile malware development legislative framework well developed legislation cross border cross-border co-operation law enforcement agencies market regulation harder set up affiliate network allow successful monetisation SMS-Trojans Russia China technology anti-malware whitelisting blacklisting whitelist blacklist encryption centralized centralised policy management and enclosing of personal and business data (a result of the BYOD trend network Red October targeted attack harvested data /