Will 2011 Be the Year of Mobile Malware?

alphadogg writes "Perhaps one of the most common predictions of the last six years has been that mobile malicious software will suddenly proliferate, driven by widespread adoption of smartphones with advanced OSes. None of those prognostications has really come to fruition, but it's likely that the coming year will bring a host of new malicious applications. Users — while generally aware of threats aimed at their desktop computers and laptops — have a good chance of being caught flat-footed with their mobile phones. In the third quarter of this year, up to 80 million smartphones were sold around the world, which accounted for about 20 percent of the total number of mobile phones sold, according to statistics published last month by analyst firm Gartner. Experts say the threats against those devices are going to come in several categories, including rogue applications. In September, researchers from security vendor Fortinet discovered a mobile component for Zeus, a notorious piece of banking malware that steals account credentials. The mobile component, which targeted Symbian Series 60 devices or BlackBerrys, intercepted one-time passcodes used to verify transactions."

Maybe it might could

[Hijacked Public]

It is possible that 2011 might be a year in which there could be some unspecified increase in what could loosely be termed malware that might be targeted in whole or in part to infect certain devices that might be considered mobile devices under certain definitions of mobile or device.

If you feel you have to lead off with a statement that your prediction is essentially the same one you've been making for the past six years and it has yet come true, maybe you should leave off setting a deadline for the thing.

Not really

[Artem S. Tashkinov]

I haven't read the article but the summary seems to be somewhat exaggerated:

• Mobile phones (OS) don't have any form of autorun
• You cannot run .exe/.cmd/.com/.lnk attachment from e-mail
• A lot of users still ... don't ever install a single extra app, and use their smartphone only as a contact list manager, calender and alarm clock
• Unless Apple/Google becomes careless it's hard to believe that malware authors can (frequently) penetrate their app stores
• There is still some variety: iPhoneOS/Android/RIM/W7 so malware writers can hardly target all platforms at once - so outbreaks are hardly possible

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

if you don't know your banking password or have it stored on your phone, you're doing it wrong. google docs auto-saves frequently and is "cloud" based so you'll lose very little. online store passwords are easily recoverable. you haven't really negated the original post's points.

Already happening!

[Jeppe Salvesen]

Our apps are already watching us [wsj.com] beyond what we've authorized. How is that not malware?

Re:Nope

[characterZer0]

Will X be the year of Y?

No, but X will be the year of poorly written and poorly researched trade magazine articles about Y.