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21 October 2008, 15:51

Experts predict botnets will spread to mobile devices in 2009

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Security experts from the renowned Georgia Institute of Technology expect to see botnets spread to mobile devices in 2009. The "Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2009" from the annual summit, attended by various research and business specialists and organised by Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC), concludes that bot-driven DDoS attacks on mobile phone networks are likely to occur from next year.

In addition, criminals will also take aim at data stored on mobiles and smartphones. In Japan users are already using mobile devices for making payments at vending machines and to pay for public transport.

Security on mobile devices is not a high priority at present. According to the report, protective applications such as antivirus software generally shorten battery life, making them unpopular. It concludes that new types of protection are required to better and more quickly establish mobile security, noting that Google's Android platform represents a step in the right direction.

According to the report, the experts also expect an increase in attempts to extort money from operators of VoIP networks. Their customers expect a greater degree of reliability than normal internet users, which could force operators to pay protection money to prevent DoS attacks.

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(lghp)

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