Mobile security is a big deal
By Leila Abboud and Marie Mawad |
May 19, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AS the previously fragmented smartphone market coalesces around big operating systems like Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, it has become a more attractive target for hackers seeking to maximize damage with one hit.
That's creating a big business opportunity for everyone from traditional antivirus players like Intel's McAfee to mobile operators like France Telecom and handset makers like Nokia.
Market research firm Infonetics forecasts sales of mobile security software will grow 50 percent a year through 2014 to hit US$2 billion.
"The mobile security market will one day be bigger than that of computers," Neil Rimer, co-founder of Geneva-based fund Index Ventures, said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit.
Hackers can force phones to send hundreds of texts to paying services, steal account information when a person uses his/her bank website, or make fake phone calls to long distance numbers. The "app" craze in which people download small bits of software to do everything from play games to search movie times has also opened up new opportunities for cyber-criminals to infect phones.
Unlike Apple, which reviews and approves all the offerings on its App Store, Google's Android Market allows developers to post their apps directly. That more open approach could leave Android more vulnerable to attack, according to security experts.
The first significant security breach hit the Android Market in March when hackers added malicious code, known as a Trojan, to 58 popular apps and quickly infected 250,000 phones.
Google's Android security head said the company was forced to use its "kill switch" to remotely erase the apps from users' phones and issued an update to its Android Market to patch the hole the hackers exploited.
Meanwhile telecom operators are also trying to take a piece of the mobile security pie. Some 40 telecom operators, including Vodafone and TeliaSonera, have signed deals with mobile security specialist F-Secure to offer anti-virus software and anti-theft protections to smartphone customers.
Eric Edelstein, head of Internet and mobile security at France Telecom, said the group was tailoring its mobile security products and services to its different markets.
The group, which markets its services under the brand name Orange, pre-packages security software on some smartphones in Great Britain, sends text messages to users with infected phones in Poland, and offers security services to its French customers.
That's creating a big business opportunity for everyone from traditional antivirus players like Intel's McAfee to mobile operators like France Telecom and handset makers like Nokia.
Market research firm Infonetics forecasts sales of mobile security software will grow 50 percent a year through 2014 to hit US$2 billion.
"The mobile security market will one day be bigger than that of computers," Neil Rimer, co-founder of Geneva-based fund Index Ventures, said at the Reuters Global Technology Summit.
Hackers can force phones to send hundreds of texts to paying services, steal account information when a person uses his/her bank website, or make fake phone calls to long distance numbers. The "app" craze in which people download small bits of software to do everything from play games to search movie times has also opened up new opportunities for cyber-criminals to infect phones.
Unlike Apple, which reviews and approves all the offerings on its App Store, Google's Android Market allows developers to post their apps directly. That more open approach could leave Android more vulnerable to attack, according to security experts.
The first significant security breach hit the Android Market in March when hackers added malicious code, known as a Trojan, to 58 popular apps and quickly infected 250,000 phones.
Google's Android security head said the company was forced to use its "kill switch" to remotely erase the apps from users' phones and issued an update to its Android Market to patch the hole the hackers exploited.
Meanwhile telecom operators are also trying to take a piece of the mobile security pie. Some 40 telecom operators, including Vodafone and TeliaSonera, have signed deals with mobile security specialist F-Secure to offer anti-virus software and anti-theft protections to smartphone customers.
Eric Edelstein, head of Internet and mobile security at France Telecom, said the group was tailoring its mobile security products and services to its different markets.
The group, which markets its services under the brand name Orange, pre-packages security software on some smartphones in Great Britain, sends text messages to users with infected phones in Poland, and offers security services to its French customers.
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