Hackers threaten mobile phone in your pocket, experts warn

The boom in smartphones among often careless users has made happy hunting for hackers, whose virus attacks and hijacking of unprotected mobiles are multiplying, experts warn. Security analysts and companies at this week’s Mobile World Congress, a top wireless telecom fair in Barcelona, Spain, said phone makers and users must be on guard to stop hackers getting into your pocket.

There are more and more security problems because with their processing power they are really like little computers, permanently connected.

Tanguy de Coatpont, head of the French branch of international anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab

Kaspersky’s most recent study showed that 28 percent of users were ignorant of the risks of cyberattack on their smartphones. Just over a quarter of users in that study said they knew of the risk but were not worried about it. Analysts said that attitude had fuelled attacks on smartphones by hackers over the past two years.

We are seeing an increase in volume (of attacks) of sometimes more than 400 percent quarter on quarter. Hackers have to hand lots of personal information contained in a smartphone, particularly financial details.

David Grout, southern Europe director of Intel Security, a global software protection firm.

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