When Butterflies and Worms come to Smartphones

Pda phoneThe story that an HTC Andriod phone has been found to be hosting malware has caught the attention of many people in the past day or so. The story is big in its own right. However, when the malware found was then identified as being related to the Mariposa botnet, then it took on an even bigger dimension. The bust of the guys behind the Mariposa was the big security news of last week.

That this was found, on a new Andriod based smartphone, is being offered up as a proof-point that these new devices could be the next battlefield against the cybercriminals. This time last year Conficker was the big security topic. I noticed with interest, that one year on, it even managed to get in on the act. The smartphone was found to also be hosting malware that related to Conficker.

The malware was identified, when the user connected the smartphone, via USB, to the PC. The PC had a security package installed and it detected the malware as it tried to infect the PC. This is proof positive of the need and effectiveness of having an up-to-date security product installed on the PC, as it helped protect it in the first instance. Secondly, in doing so, it also stopped the further transmission and spread of the Mariposa and Conficker malware onto other users. The vendor of the smartphone is looking into how the malware found its way onto the device. As with the PC some years back, infections could happen in the factory, wherein, the software loaded onto the PC was found to have been compromised. PC manufacturers were quick to learn from this and security procedures and processed put in place to mitigate against this. By and large it was successful, albeit there were and still are rare instances when it is found that the point of distribution for a piece of malware was in the factory pre-loaded software.

What this incident also suggests is that the smartphone itself needs to take some responsibility for its own security. It needs to play its part in the chain of security or confidence. Yes, procedures and processed need to re-evaluated to ensure that malware is not inadvertently  loaded onto the device at point of manufacture. Yes – we need to ensure that any PC that these devices are connected to have security software running on them, as an additional layer of security. However, the device itself needs to be secured and be seen to be secured.

March 10, 2010 | Filed Under Security 

comments

Leave a Reply