The top ten information security risks for smartphone users.
Market analysts predict that smartphones will outnumber PCs by 2013, and that they will be the most common device for accessing the internet. In 2010 we published a report about smartphone security, giving an overview of risks, opportunities for smartphone users, and making recommendations.
This is the list of the top ten smartphone security risks from our report. The (level of) risk was determined in consultation with the expert group. The level is intended to convey the relative risk in relation to others, rather than an absolute probability or impact level.
- 1 - Data leakage resulting from device loss or theft (Risk: High)
- 2- Unintentional disclosure of data (Risk: High)
- 3 -Attacks on decommissioned smartphones (Risk: High)
- 4 -Phishing attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 5 - Spyware attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 6 - Network Spoofing Attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 7 - Surveillance attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 8 - Diallerware attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 9 -Financial malware attacks (Risk: Medium)
- 10 - Network congestion (Risk: Low)
Risk is defined as the product of the likelihood and the impact of a threat against the information assets of an organization or an individual. Threats exploit one or more vulnerabilities. The likelihood of a threat is determined by the number of underlying vulnerabilities, the relative ease with which they can be exploited and the attractiveness for an attacker.
We used the following list of possible affected assets throughout:
- Personal data
- Corporate intellectual property
- Classified information
- Financial assets
- Device and service availability and functionality
- Personal and political reputation
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Los datos y análisis del laboratorio de G Data señalan que, de enero a junio de 2011, la proporción del malware destinado a dispositivos móviles creció un 273% respecto al primer semestre de 2010 (frente al 16% de crecimiento global de nuevas amenazas). “Con el malware para móviles, los cibercriminales han descubierto un nuevo modelo de negocio”, explica Ralf Benzmüller, responsable de G DataSecurity Labs. “Ahora mismo, los autores de malware usan principalmente backdoors, programas espía y abusivos servicios SMS para estafar a sus víctimas. Desafortunadamente, podemos decir que estamos asistiendo al nacimiento de un nuevo y potencialmente muy lucrativo nicho de mercado para los cibercriminales y esperamos un continuo crecimiento del ‘malware mobile’ de aquí a finales de año.” 
