14 DAY TRIAL // Lately, we have all witnessed a serious plunge of the mobile devices' security level and today, a study made by TowerGroup couldn't have done anything else but predict an explosion of the mobile attacks during 2007.
They have discovered that the most attractive devices for the cyber-criminals which undergo ID theft and attacks on the mobile banking and payment initiatives on a global scale are the smartphones and the wireless PDAs. This is a direct result of them being able to run PC-like applications like instant messengers and browser that can be the subject of an attack at any given time.
As Bob Egan, the chief analyst at TowerGroup and the author of the research has declared, "the success of mobile banking and payments, as well as the concept of the mobile wallet, will be measured against the industry's ability to effectively contain the malware problems to a level that is at least on par with that of the existing Internet channel".
Furthermore, he has stated that "over 200 mobile viruses have already been identified, a number that is doubling nearly every six months. Now is the time for IT managers and line of business heads within institutions to take action to protect their companies and customers from mobile malware".
Given the fact that many of the financial institutions are using vulnerable smartphones on a daily basis to complete their professional and personal tasks, this automatically makes us wonder what will happen if an attacker gets a hold of secret identity data stored on such a device.
The most optimistic scenario takes place when the attacker doesn't know what he is holding in his hands and his future actions don't imply any affected individuals. The less optimistic one lets us picture identity theft, banking accounts emptied in a blink of an eye and even the collapse of some financial institutions.
Therefore, as Egan has said: "IT managers must examine extending their existing malware and virus security initiatives to include mobile phones. Likewise, the mobile commerce industry beyond financial services players must step up to take more aggressive and immediate actions to circumvent the potential of fraud and theft. We're currently in the lull before the true storm. To ensure that the mobile banking and payments channel will ultimately thrive, there is no time to waste in getting ahead of the malware challenge."