mobile security

I just found this article (I’ve been out of the loop for most of February) and couldn’t help but write something. If the claims in here are to be believed, we are in the middle of a mobile virus pandemic. There are some very interesting statistics:

The Situation Today
The purpose of the study was to discover to what extent mobile operators are affected by mobile threats. The findings revealed that:

* 83 percent of mobile operators questioned have been hit by mobile device infections
* The number of reported security incidents in 2006 was more than five times as high as in 2005
* The number of mobile operators in Europe and APAC reporting incidents affecting more than 1,000 devices more than doubled in 2006
* 100 percent more operators spent over $200,000 on mobile security in 2006 compared to 2005
* The number of mobile operators estimating that the cost of dealing with mobile threats is more than 1000 hours increased by 700 percent

Good grief! This all looks like pretty hairy stuff. And there’s more…

Nearly one-third (29 percent) of operators stated that subscriber satisfaction had suffered more than any other factor including revenue. The second most serious impact from mobile malware infections was on network performance.

Revenue? Network performance? Switch to DEFCON 1. Get me the president!

Whilst I will agree that mobile devices are becoming more of a target, it doesn’t mean history is going to necessarily repeat itself (with respect to Windows), although that’s not to say MS mobile platforms couldn’t do without a patch or two.

And perhaps McAfee could update their mobile site. Are they really are the only company in the world to have deployed a mobile suite? I think not.

UPDATE: It seems someone at McAfee took heed and their mobile site has been updated.  Original web page text from here.

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