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Expect more mobile slip-ups, warns Fortify
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21/07/2009
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As news that Symbian has admitted it needs better safeguards to prevent malicious apps finding their way onto mobiles, Fortify Software says the problem is going to get worse. "The problem with mobile phones is that their processing capacity is increasing at a near-exponential rate – with some of the latest smartphones the technological equivalent of the PCs seen in the early part of this decade," says Richard Kirk, director of the application vulnerability specialist.
"And while the power of the average smartphone has soared, the behind-the-scenes technology and security assurance practices required to prevent loopholes in the operating system and/or applications is not as up-to-speed," he adds.
Kirk is convinced that hackers and malware developers that have been blocked by increasing sophistication on the desktop/laptop security front, are now turning their attentions to smartphones.
The problem with smartphones, he explains, is that they are mobile, travelling with us into the untethered real world, but constantly connected, thanks to a mix of GSM, 3G and WiFi.
"Add in a high quality mobile email and Internet access, and you have a potential recipe for a data leakage disaster in the making, as the humble smartphone can offer hackers a nearly always-on back door into desktop PCs," warns Kirk.
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Author
Brian Tinham
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