Mobile Phones: Increasing Hacking Risks and Threats to Security

Having managed to cripple PCs on more than one occasion over the last decade, viruses, worms and trojans are now heading for mobile phones. And while many experts worry they could be as malicious as their PC predecessors, some fear they could be a whole lot worse.

Consider the following facts. First, the planet is already populated with substantially more mobile phones than PCs, with the gap between the two steadily increasing. Second, many mobile phone customers plan to use their devices as electronic wallets to pay for goods and services. And third, mobile phone makers have opened their once tightly controlled operating platforms to third parties to develop new applications that often link to the public internet.

Put all that together - millions (and some day billions) of mobile phones with sophisticated banking functions, open interfaces and internet capability - and it's not difficult to understand why hackers, who have honed their skills on PCs over the past decade, are now setting their sights on mobile devices.

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