Mobile malware: The threat exists

Mobile operators are being warned to take security more seriously as the rise of the mobile internet and richer data services creates new security challenges and raises the spectre of mobile malware.

More than 86 per cent of mobile users have at least some level of concern relating to the security of their device, according to the results of McAfee's 2008 Mobile Security Report into consumer attitudes to handset threat, published at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona this week.

And more than half (59.4 per cent) expect operators to take primary responsibility for protecting their mobile devices and services, the survey found. The majority of those who indicated a preference would favour a security solution being preloaded onto the handset.

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This chimes with enterprise user concerns, according to Jason Chapman, research VP at analyst Gartner. "Security is something that the enterprise takes very seriously and the problem is it's not something that consumers take so seriously when they're buying those devices that next week they will be bringing into the office," he said.

The top three areas of concern for mobile users are receiving inappropriate content, fraudulent increases in phone bills and loss of important info stored on the handset, according to McAfee.

Regular users of the mobile internet are considerably more concerned about security than those who never use their handsets for browsing, the survey found. Likewise, users of mobile services - such as banking and mobile ticketing - display raised levels of security concern.

Users are most concerned about the security of mobile banking and payments services (55 per cent), followed by multimedia services and mobile tickets/vouchers. They are least worried about the security of voice services.

Viruses worming their way onto phones remain a niche occurrence, with just 2.1 per cent of users reporting an encounter with a mobile nasty.

And while a greater proportion of users have apparently heard of someone who has been affected by mobile malware - 11.6 per cent - the vast majority have neither had nor heard of any incidents (86.3 per cent).

The McAfee survey took the pulse of more than 2,000 consumers from Japan, the UK and the US.