Tech Shout!

Anti-virus firm McAfee has cautioned users about the significant rise in the number of global mobile threats in 2006.

According to McAfee, mobile malware has grown 10 times faster than PC malware over the last year; potentially unwanted programs” have grown by 40 percent in 2005; and there is a rise in Trojans especially password-stealers, bots and backdoors.

McAfee’s R&D division - Avert Labs, has marked 2006 as a potential turning point in the spread of malware to mobile platforms. According to McAfee, 2006 is going to be particularly dismal for smartphone and “converged” users because as the “McAfee AVERT Labs’ 2006 Threat Forecast” says, users are less likely to install security on mobiles.

The explosion of smartphones and PDAs, which are now being made to perform a variety of risky operations such as mobile banking, etc are said to be the crux of the problem.

McAfee also says there is an increase in remotely-controlled deployment of adware, keyloggers, etc; as also distributed phishing Trojans i.e. Trojans which turn infected computers into phishing Web sites, and then spam others to visit these sites. The report also fore-tells a rise in the number of password-stealing Web sites, and increased targeting of popular online services like eBay.

It is probable that skeptics may render this warning by McAfee as an end-of-year scare-mongering, to help market its own anti-virus systems.