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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mobile malware: 'criminals are experimenting at the moment'

Mark Bridge writes:

This week’s podcast feature takes a fresh look at security on mobile phones. I’ve been talking to Eddy Willems, Security Evangelist at G Data, about the challenges and solutions facing smartphone users. Both Eddy and his current employer have been active in digital security for a couple of decades, so there’s plenty of experience under their respective belts.

I started by asking whether security was a big deal for mobile phones.

“Well, it is becoming a big deal for mobile phones”, Eddy replied. He went on to cite recent G Data research that showed how the share of malware aimed at smartphones and tablets had risen by 273% in the first half of 2011 when compared to the first half of 2010.

Unsurprisingly, Windows PCs are still the biggest target, with just a tiny percentage of mobile devices becoming infected with viruses and similar security threats. But that tiny percentage is growing. “It’s just on the edge at this moment. 2012 will definitely be the bigger target and we definitely will see real infections of real malware coming to all of us.”

The popularity and the ‘openness’ of Android are causing it to be targeted by cyber-criminals. “They are looking for the biggest market share… because they want to gain money out of it. That’s also the real reason why the Windows platform was targeted and is still targeted.”

Criminals are looking for information that’s stored on your phone, Eddy warned. “A lot of us are keeping passwords on mobile phones in some kind of document because it’s easy, so that’s one of the things that is very interesting for the cyber-criminal”.

We went on to talk about the misconceptions people have when it comes to mobile security, the ways that consumers can stay safe from mobile viruses and other malware, additional actions the mobile industry should be taking - and the security differences between Android and Apple’s iOS.

Finally, I asked Eddy to predict the future of mobile security over the next year or two.

“At this moment cyber-criminals are experimenting a little bit on the Android platform, trying to find out what they easily can do. We will have a very big increase in mobile malware - definitely for Android - because it’s becoming widely used. At this moment we see a lot of ‘Trojans’, malicious apps. We think this could be changed and maybe we’ll see something like small botnets and more spyware coming to mobile phones.”

It’s important to keep the scale of mobile malware in perspective - it’s the conventional desktop or laptop computer that’s targeted in the vast majority of cases - but the amount of threats and the the number of mobile devices affected are certainly very much on the increase.

Hear Eddy Willems explain how to protect a smartphone from security threats - and much more, too. You can listen to the full interview with Eddy on our website, via iTunes or by downloading the MP3 file.
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Opinion Articles

f u cn rd ths thn wts th prblm?

Iain Graham writes:

Text language. Why do they do it?  What an interesting question!  Normally asked by people who have never ever sent a text, believing it to be the invention of the devil!! "Texters are vandals, doing to our language what Genghis Khan did to his neighbours eight hundred years ago" asserted Jhn (sorry) John Humphrys of Radio Four fame writing in the Daily Mail. The new 'text language' has been blamed for many things including...

Author: The Fonecast
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Is Google’s new mobile phone distribution model really a big deal for the UK?

Mark Bridge writes:

“Google offers New Model for Consumers to buy a Mobile Phone”. Not my words but those of Vodafone as it announced it was the first operator to bring the new Google phone offer to Europe.

There’s a lot of talk about Google’s online ordering process for its Nexus One smartphone… or ‘superphone’ as the company described it at yesterday’s launch.

Author: The Fonecast
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Mobile shopping is worrying... and usually successful

Mark Bridge writes:

I really don’t like to complain. Honestly, I don’t. I’m an optimist. True, I can be a bit of a cynic – but that’s because I like to see things work first time.

So when I saw a headline that said “Shopping via mobile phone causes concerns for consumers”, I wasn’t surprised. Disappointed but not surprised.

And then I looked closer – and I got annoyed. Not annoyed at the companies that make mobile shopping so disappointing. No, annoyed at the organisation that published the report.

Author: The Fonecast
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Is mobile technology too young to predict?

Mark Bridge writes:

“Leave them alone, they’re just kids”

My word, Anakin Skywalker was a smart boy. Child prodigy. Wunderkind. Genius, some would say, albeit fictional.

But, without the benefit of hindsight (or the Star Wars box set, as many would call it), very few people would have expected him to marry his babysitter, fall into a volcano, turn to the Dark Side and end up looking like the late Sebastian Shaw.

Which brings me to the mobile phone industry.

Author: The Fonecast
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Did 2009 turn out the way we expected?

Mark Bridge writes:

At this time of year it’s something of a tradition – certainly within the mobile industry – to make predictions for the year ahead. It’s a trend we’ve followed with The Fonecast… and we’ve done reasonably well over the last few years.

We’ll be making this year’s predictions for 2010 in our programme on 23rd December. Ahead of that, I’ve been listening to our last show of 2008 to see what we thought 2009 would hold for us.

Author: The Fonecast
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Podcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

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