By Gabriel Perna: Subscribe to Gabriel's RSS feed
July 2, 2010 11:56 AM EDT
As a new technology that is rapidly spreading, smartphones are a vulnerable target for hackers - and the number of attacks is increasing exponentially. And the risks aren't always clear to users.
"What's driving threats is the use of data and data associated services. The explosion of smart phones and downloading apps, that's what's exposing true risks," said John Hering, chief executive officer of Lookout, a mobile phone security company with an app that eliminates spyware and other threats on mobile phones.
"In late 2009 when we first launched, we saw four pieces of spyware per 100 phones. Now six months later, we're seeing nine pieces of spyware per 100 phones. The threats have doubled in the last six months," he added.
As the threat grows, more companies such as Lookout will offer security software to combat the threats. Hering said it is not unlike the growth of security software on PCs when the majority of internet users went from dial-up to broadband. The phone might be even worse in terms of hacked data.
Many users remain unaware, for example, that the default setting for voicemail on AT&T accounts is a blank password. Ordinarily that is not an issue because people access their voicemail from their phones, and if you call from another phone it will ask you for one.
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But if a hacker "spoofs" the user's cell phone number, unless the voice mail is password protected, the hacker will have access to the users' voicemail menu. "Spoofing" is falsifying the number from which a call is made; unlike caller ID blocking, which hides the number, spoofing presents a false one. Spoofing software can be downloaded from the Internet relatively easily.
AT&T's response to the voicemail threat is simple: recommend users password protect their voicemail. Similarly, Sprint Nextel also recommends that its customers use a pass code for accounts. Neither company was specific on what other methods, if any, they use to protect users from their information getting hacked.
"The phone is your most personal device. It knows where you are through location based services, knows who you talk with, what websites you go to and in many cases your banking. It's a valuable target," Hering said.
As far as whether wireless carriers will start to pay more attention, Herring says it's inevitable. "We'll start to see more initiatives. There's a fundamental understanding that security is needed by operators and I think we're going to see more of it," he said.
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