"We're currently in the lull before the true
storm. To ensure that the mobile banking and payments channel will
ultimately thrive, there is no time to waste in getting ahead of
the malware challenge," said Bob Egan, chief analyst at TowerGroup
and the author of a new research paper. TowerGroup is a research
and advice consultancy for the financial services sector.
"2007 will be the year that new banking and
payment initiatives in the mobile channel will be increasingly
targeted by those engaged in fraud and identity theft, with the
goal of infecting or otherwise compromising mobile devices," said a
TowerGroup statement. "These targets will include deployments where
a mobile device acts as a credit or debit card."
Despite mobile phone operator predictions,
banking on mobile phones has not been the popular success that some
hoped. PDAs, though, are more commonly used to perform such complex
functions. Those are also the devices which have the additional
computing power that can make viruses and malware programs
effective, something which TowerGroup says is not being considered
carefully enough.
"Smart phones and wireless PDAs are
particularly attractive to fraudsters given their advanced
capabilities to support PC-like applications including Web browsing
and instant messaging," said the company. "TowerGroup believes that
current mobile commerce initiatives emerging from the financial
services industry lack a reasonable and justifiable focus on mobile
malware."
The company's research found that there are
200 mobile viruses in existence and that that number is doubling
every six months. It also found that 80% of US business users of
PDAs, smart phones and Blackberry email devices use them for
personal as well as business purposes.
The company says that companies should take
immediate action to prevent the hacking of mobile devices.
"[Companies should] create enforceable policies regarding mobile
usage that are communicated to employees, including what type of
mobile downloads are safe and allowable," it said. "[They should]
restrict the use of personal mobile phones that can be used for
corporate activities, mirroring the security and protocols now in
place for PCs."
"The success mobile banking and payments, as
well as the concept of the mobile wallet, will be measured against
the industry's ability to effectively contain the malware problems
to a level that is at least on par with that of the existing
internet channel," said Egan.
