App Store is the next big target for cyber crooks
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Experts say that the next frontier for writers and distributors of malicious software is the smartphone market, which is not adequately secured and growing at a rapid pace.
Nick Jones, an analyst at research firm Gartner, told Secure Computing magazine that Apple's App Store is a likely target for malware purveyors. "There is no way that Apple can afford to inspect the code of every application that goes onto the App Store. They do some lightweight inspection and testing, it goes up on the App Store and there is not a lot to stop it doing something malicious," said Jones.
Secure Computing writes that the App Store has served more than a billion downloads since its launch in 2008, and that 100,000 applications have been approved for distribution via the popular service. Enterprises have little control over the security of iPhones being used for business because they are frequently purchased by employees for both business and personal use.
The first iPhone malware vector has been different, with worms afflicting jailbroken iPhones with a variety of symptoms ranging from simple harassment to attempted identity theft.
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