Cyber Threats to Mobile Phones

US-CERT is charged with providing response support and defense against cyber attacks for the Federal Civil Executive Branch (.gov) and information sharing and collaboration with state and local government, industry and international partners. US-CERT interacts with federal agencies, industry, the research community, state and local governments, and others to disseminate reasoned and actionable cyber security information to the public.

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From US-CERT | Jan 3, 2012

Smartphones, or mobile phones with advanced capabilities like those of personal computers (PCs), are appearing in more people’s pockets, purses and briefcases. Smartphones’ popularity and relatively lax security have made them attractive targets for attackers. According to a report published early last year, smartphones recently outsold PCs for the first time, and attackers have been exploiting this expanding market by using old techniques along with new ones. One example is this last year’s Valentine’s Day attack, in which attackers distributed a mobile picture-sharing application that secretly sent premium-rate text messages from the user’s mobile phone. One study found that, from 2009 to 2010, the number of new vulnerabilities in mobile operating systems jumped 42 percent. The number and sophistication of attacks on mobile phones is increasing, and countermeasures are slow to catch up.

Included in this ZIP file are:

• Intro Page.doc
• Terms and Conditions.pdf
• Cyber Threats to Mobile Phones.pdf

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