Leading security software vendor McAfee has warned SMEs to implement measures that encrypt or give the ability to format (erease all data) smartphones and other mobile devices incase they are lost or stolen.
The warning comes of the back of a report issued by the company revealing there were over 20 million new malware threats identified last year alone, many of which are specifically targeted towards mobile devices. The report also makes mention of the Zeus Trojan which successfully infected Bristish Goverment computer networks.
Cheif Technology officer for McAfee Asia Pacific explains:
“You need to look at the risk profile of your devices. First of all, identify what you are doing on that device? What are you actually using it for?”.
“Then you can make a decision about adding security. The first thing I would recommend is that people look at securing the actual data on their device… but that doesn’t mean you have to have a next-generation security product on there.”
“The creators of the Zeus botnet repurposed an old version of a commercial spyware package. Android/Geinimi, a Trojan inserted into legitimate mobile applications and games for the Android platform, was one of the most important threats of the quarter.”
“But this is a scenario that made people stock and look at what was happening. It’s going to get to a situation where people decide they need to add protection to their phones because we’re seeing so much action in this space.”
“You need to make sure that you are using the inherent features of the device. Most smartphones come now with some sort of password identification, and you should configure that and make it strong. Few people actually leverage these features.”
“You also need to make sure that if the device is lost, the data that sits on that device is secure. That’s more important than anything else and is typically overlooked because it’s been so difficult.”
“This year was massive for us, and we’re seeing an average of 55,000 new threats every day. It puts significant strain on the security model people are using, on whatever device they are using.”