New Worry for Mobile Phones: Malware

By Mauricio

You’ve been battling malware – viruses, worms, spyware and the like – on your PC for years.

Is your phone the next battle­ground?

Security experts think it could be, particularly if it’s a smart phone, a handset that has a full operating system and can run applications much as a desktop computer does. The more that phones can perform the same functions as PCs, the greater the chance they will have similar vulnerabilities, experts say.

“I’d put it in the looming-threat category,” said Natalie Lambert, a senior analyst who covers mobile security issues for Forrester, a technology research firm. “There’s huge potential.”

Experts caution that consumers should put that potential threat in perspective. Other security issues – such as simply losing a phone – are arguably of more concern to mobile-phone users today.

Read more at HamptonRoads.com