Mobile security or mobile phone security has become increasingly important in mobile computing. Of particular concern is the security of personal and business information now stored on smart phones.
More and more users and businesses employ smart phones as communication tools, but also as a means of planning and organizing their work and private life. Within companies, these technologies are causing profound changes in the organization of information systems and therefore they have become the source of new risks. Indeed, smart phones collect and compile an increasing amount of sensitive information to which access must be controlled to protect the privacy of the user and the intellectual property of the company.
All Smartphone’s, as computers, are preferred targets of attacks. These attacks exploit weaknesses related to Smartphone’s that can come from means of communication like Short Message Service (SMS, aka text messaging), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS),Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth and GSM, the de facto global standard for mobile communications. There are also attacks that exploit software vulnerabilities from both the web browser and operating system. Finally, there are forms of malicious software that rely on the weak knowledge of average users.
Different security counter-measures are being developed and applied to Smartphone’s, from security in different layers of software to the dissemination of information to end users. There are good practices to be observed at all levels, from design to use, through the development of operating systems, software layers, and downloadable apps.
