InfoWorld - Security Adviser: Mobile security fails the history lesson

Hackers use the same attacks against mobile devices they've yielded against PCs, yet we've learned nothing

By Roger A. Grimes
DECEMBER 20, 2011

Mobile users from all walks of life, from the average citizen to business bigwigs to movie stars and politicians, are getting their phones and voicemail hacked these days. Most of the perpetrators aren't even skilled hackers; they're regular Joes, spurned suitors, or even -- hold your nose -- reporters.

End-users certainly deserve part of the blame here, but phone vendors and mobile carriers alike could be doing more. It's not as if attacks targeting phones are especially new. It's a strange paradox: We know what we need to do to stop hacking. We have two decades of experience in putting down malware and hackers in the PC-based, network world. But we seem to be ignoring all those lessons as we move our CPUs and storage to new form factors. Am I the only one who thinks we're destined to live out every PC-based malware symptom in our smartphone world?

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