Smartphones are becoming more and more vulnerable to attacks by cybercriminals looking for prey beyond the PC and targetting mobiles, especially those using Android operating system. Symantec expects attacks on these platforms to increase in times to come.
Threats that mobile malware pose include, sending premium-rate SMSes, collecting device data, spying on the users, tracking location of the device, modifying the settings, sending spam, monitoring the device for banking transactions and so on.
As tablets and smartphones continue to outsell PCs, and workers bringing in their own devices into the corporate environment, attacks on these platforms will keep increasing at a very fast pace.
According to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report XVII, attackers are exploring a shift in focus toward mobile devices and mobile vulnerabilities increased by 93 per cent last year. Majority for these threats are targetted at Google’s Android operating system.
