Hackers have broken into the cellphones of celebrities like
Scarlett Johansson and Prince William. But what about the rest of us,
who might not have particularly salacious photos or voice messages
stored in our phones, but nonetheless have e-mails, credit card numbers
and records of our locations?
A growing number
of companies, including start-ups and big names in computer security
like McAfee,Symantec, Sophos and AVG, see a business opportunity in
mobile security - protecting cellphones from hacks and malware that
could read text messages, store location information or add charges
directly to mobile phone bills.
On Tuesday,
McAfee introduced a service for consumers to protect their smartphones,
tablets and computers at once, and last week the company introduced a
mobile security system for businesses. Last month, AT&T partnered
with Juniper Networks to build mobile security apps for consumers and
businesses. The Defense Department has called for companies and
universities to come up with ways to protect Android devices from
malware.
In an indication of investor
interest, one start-up, Lookout, last week raised $40 million from
venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total
to $76.5 million. The company makes an app that scans other apps that
people download to their phones, looking for malware and viruses. It
automatically tracks 700,000 mobile apps and updates Lookout whenever it
finds a threat.
Still, in some ways, it's an
industry ahead of its time. Experts in mobile security agree that mobile
hackers are not yet much of a threat. But that is poised to change
quickly, they say, especially as people increasingly use their phones to
exchange money, by mobile shopping or using digital wallets like Google
Wallet.
"Unlike PCs, the chance of running
into something in the wild for your phone is quite low," said Charlie
Miller, a researcher at Accuvant, a security consulting company, and a
hacker who has revealed weaknesses in iPhones. "That's partly because
it's more secure but mostly because the bad guys haven't gotten around
to it yet. But the bad guys are going to slowly follow the money."
Most
consumers, though they protect their computers, are unaware that they
need to secure their phones, he said, "but the smartphones people have
are computers, and the same thing that can happen on your computer can
happen on your phone."
Cellphone users are
more likely than computer users to click on dangerous links or download
sketchy apps because they are often distracted, experts say. Phones can
be more vulnerable because they connect to wireless networks at the gym
or the coffee shop, and hackers can surreptitiously charge consumers for
a purchase.
There have already been harmful
attacks, most of which have originated in China, said John Hering,
co-founder and chief executive of Lookout. For example, this year, the
Android market was hit by malware called DroidDream. Hackers pirated 80
apps, added malicious code and tricked users into downloading them.
Google said 260,000 devices were attacked.
