Information Security News: Spammers poised to target BlackBerry and iPhone owners

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/telecoms/article4237358.ece

By Lilly Peel
The Times
June 30, 2008

The rising popularity of smartphones such as the BlackBerry and the 
iPhone will make them targets for viruses and spam, security experts 
believe.

In the past few years the internet has experienced a huge rise in 
security problems, led by criminal gangs who have used spam and viruses 
for financial scams. Mobile phones have remained relatively unscathed, 
but that is set to change as sales of smartphones surge.

In the first three months of this year 32.2 million smartphones were 
sold - 11 per cent of all handset sales and a 29 per cent increase on 
the same period last year.

These e-mail and internet-enabled handsets are moving out of the 
corporate market into consumers' hands, and the recent launch of the 3G 
iPhone is expected to fuel sales further. Credit Suisse analysts predict 
that 275 million smartphones will be sold next year, boosting 
penetration to 19 per cent and making the mobile world attractive to 
criminals.

Neil Cook, vice-president of technology services for Cloudmark, a 
messaging security company, estimates that penetration of smartphones 
needs to reach 20 per cent to 30 per cent before it becomes worthwhile 
for hackers to spread viruses. Spam is a problem in India and China, and 
North America and Europe are expected to follow.

[...]


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