One of the great developments in access to the internet over recent years is its newfound mobility. A plethora of devices available on the high street, such as BlackBerrys and other PDAs, cell phones, and Apple's iPhone, offer users the capacity to get reliable web access from almost anywhere they also get telephone connectivity.
Many people view this sea change as the future of the internet, setting users free rather than keeping them chained to their computers or offices. This is not only the case in the developed world, with major telecommunications firms already expressing the view that the mobile internet access can provide people in developing countries with the opportunities previously denied to them. Access to computers or wireline internet is scarce in a large number of countries across Asia, South America and Africa, with a number of firms keen to improve their mobile penetration in these continents.
However, when we access the internet via a notebook or desktop computer, the large majority of us have anti-virus software installed, to detect the various threats which are out there. Malware, spyware, Trojans, viruses, worms – although the average layperson would not be able to give you a detailed description of the numerous dangers which exist, they would all share the view that they are frightening and to be avoided. So what happens when we access the web on our phones or PDAs? Are we still at risk of contracting these? And will they then confer them to every device and network we are attached to if we connect our phone to a PC?
A growing number of experts are warning mobile web users that smartphone viruses could soon become a very real threat to their networks. Although currently there is no danger from this interoperability, in the future one careless worker connecting a cell phone to an office computer could bring down an entire corporate network, causing massive disruption to business critical applications in the process.
"It's definitely something I worry about a lot," Sam Lamonica, chief information officer of general contractor Rulph & Sletten told online news provider Network World. "With the proliferation of smartphones throughout our business, it poses a great risk if and when hackers get good at pumping malware through those devices."
Mark Olson, the manager of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, told the source: "The phone has advanced exponentially, while users have not caught up and realized that they are walking around with a computer.”
Smartphone viruses are a threat to network users for a number of reasons, with the way they function potentially causing them to be a great threat. Smartphones are often linked to a network in unguarded ways, existing outside of the firewall and containing applications which enable them to access a variety of wireless networks. Olson also warned that the standardization adopted by companies which issue smartphones across their workforce could also be a threat, as the virus or malware could attack a number of devices with impunity before being detected. "Most of the known viruses and Trojans will propagate through Bluetooth or Multimedia Messaging [MMS]. So all it takes is one person walking into a meeting with an infected device, and the rest of the room now needs a dose of penicillin,” he told Network World.
As ever with issues of security, companies can install the latest anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date as a countermeasure to the threats, and it certainly does decrease the likelihood of their systems becoming infected, a potentially catastrophic event. However, their workers must also ensure they are being as professional and careful as they can. With power comes responsibility, the cliché runs, and if an employee is given a device that has access to the internet and a number of other wireless networks, he or she must take their responsibilities seriously, or the viruses they pick up could cause an organization a great deal of problems.
Source:http://www.computers.net
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