Mobile phone and PDA users should expect a rising tide of malicious software and attacks in 2006, a security company predicted Monday.
McAfee's AVERT anti-virus lab said a "significant rise in the number of global mobile threats" will appear next year as the malware risk continues to increase against cellular and smart phones, as well as PDAs.
"This is a partly a continuation of what we saw in 2005, and partly just the normal evolution in malware," said Craig Schmugar, the virus research manager at AVERT. "There will be both an increase in the number of threats and their sophistication in 2006."
Schmugar said that much of McAfee's prediction relies on the notion that mobile threats develop in the same way as did those against PCs. "While motivation has been shifting on PCs to financial profit, it wasn't long ago that attackers only wanted their 15 minutes of fame," said Schmugar. "Those motivations parallel what's going on on the mobile side. [For the most part] malware authors are now only trying to prove that they can create something."
Down the road, mobile hackers' motivation may shift to money, assuming that previous history repeats and information stored on smart phones and PDAs is salable, and/or one phone can be used to send large amounts of spam to others.
Although the growth rate of mobile threats was 10 times greater than that for PCs in 2005, Schmugar acknowledged that fewer malware authors are currently targeting mobile world. But, he warned, even a few could cause significant damage because mobile users don't have the defensive mindset of PC users, nor do many mobile devices sport security software.
"End users will be a contributing factor in giving malware threats 'legs'," said Schmugar. "Users are still unsuspecting when it comes to things like spam or threats."
In June, Gartner security analysts said that a quick-spreading, dangerous worm was at least two years out. Additionally, they accused the anti-virus industry of hyping the threat posed by mobile worms, using scare tactics to try to sell security software to the billions of cell phone users.
"We're not saying that there will be a massive outbreak next year," Schmugar rebutted on Monday. "What we're saying is that there will be an increase."
On the need for security software, Schmugar notes that traditionally, security best practices call for a defence-in-depth, with multiple layers of security to deflect as many types of attacks as possible.
"The mobile service providers are in a good position to block part of the threat," he said. "But multi-tiered defences are still the best."
McAfee isn't the only security vendor to predict a jump in mobile malware attacks for 2006. Earlier this month, Symantec said it also expects a larger number of threats aimed at phones and PDAs.
Both McAfee and Symantec sell security software explicitly for mobile devices.
McAfee's AVERT anti-virus lab said a "significant rise in the number of global mobile threats" will appear next year as the malware risk continues to increase against cellular and smart phones, as well as PDAs.
"This is a partly a continuation of what we saw in 2005, and partly just the normal evolution in malware," said Craig Schmugar, the virus research manager at AVERT. "There will be both an increase in the number of threats and their sophistication in 2006."
Schmugar said that much of McAfee's prediction relies on the notion that mobile threats develop in the same way as did those against PCs. "While motivation has been shifting on PCs to financial profit, it wasn't long ago that attackers only wanted their 15 minutes of fame," said Schmugar. "Those motivations parallel what's going on on the mobile side. [For the most part] malware authors are now only trying to prove that they can create something."
Down the road, mobile hackers' motivation may shift to money, assuming that previous history repeats and information stored on smart phones and PDAs is salable, and/or one phone can be used to send large amounts of spam to others.
Although the growth rate of mobile threats was 10 times greater than that for PCs in 2005, Schmugar acknowledged that fewer malware authors are currently targeting mobile world. But, he warned, even a few could cause significant damage because mobile users don't have the defensive mindset of PC users, nor do many mobile devices sport security software.
"End users will be a contributing factor in giving malware threats 'legs'," said Schmugar. "Users are still unsuspecting when it comes to things like spam or threats."
In June, Gartner security analysts said that a quick-spreading, dangerous worm was at least two years out. Additionally, they accused the anti-virus industry of hyping the threat posed by mobile worms, using scare tactics to try to sell security software to the billions of cell phone users.
"We're not saying that there will be a massive outbreak next year," Schmugar rebutted on Monday. "What we're saying is that there will be an increase."
On the need for security software, Schmugar notes that traditionally, security best practices call for a defence-in-depth, with multiple layers of security to deflect as many types of attacks as possible.
"The mobile service providers are in a good position to block part of the threat," he said. "But multi-tiered defences are still the best."
McAfee isn't the only security vendor to predict a jump in mobile malware attacks for 2006. Earlier this month, Symantec said it also expects a larger number of threats aimed at phones and PDAs.
Both McAfee and Symantec sell security software explicitly for mobile devices.