One reason companies must take concepts like mobile device management into account is the growing threat of mobile malware. Trend Micro recently released Repeating History and Evolved Threats in a “Post-PC” World, which examines the threats of the mobile landscape and beyond. These reports both showed that there are currently 350,000 mobile strands and that number is expected to grow far beyond where it is.
“This was a monumental growth from the 1,000 mobile malware we saw at the end of 2011,” Trend Micro said on its website. “Much of this growth was driven by adware and premium service abusers, which accounted for a sizable majority of the seen growth. The popularity of Android in the mobile space means that it is now facing threats similar to what has faced Windows in the desktop space. This threat grew and became more sophisticated throughout the entire year, and we expect that this will continue into 2013.”
Repeating History said 2012 saw a large increase of mobile malware as the months wore on due to the increase in the amount of Android malware that was detected. The third quarter especially saw a rise, as the number of detections went from 41,000 to 156,000, with a swift increase in the amount of what aggressive adware.
The Annual Security Roundup showed that premium service abusers were the biggest problem this year, taking up 40.6 percent of all mobile malware. These programs hijack a phone’s number and make charge calls to high-cost phone numbers, racking up huge charges on phone bills. Adware came in next, taking up about 38 percent of mobile malware. About 25 percent of malicious mobile programs stole data from the devices while nearly 23 percent installed more malicious files to the device.
Cornerstones of good BYOD
The move toward more devices means companies will be adopting BYOD (Bring your own Device) more than ever. Although this will not completely solve the issue of mobile malware, it will help save companies a lot of headaches.
Benjamin Harris wrote on PhysBizTech that there are a few mainstays that companies should be focusing on in their BYOD program to stay secure, including:
– Have a data governance system in place to see where documents have been and who has viewed, stored or edited them
– Always encrypt the most sensitive data to avoid exploitation even if it does happen to leak out
– Know which devices are being used and have a program in place which centralizes security controls and expands visibility
Consumerization News from SimplySecurity.com by Trend Micro
