Chapter 9. Exploiting Cell Phones
The previous chapter discussed the threats to PDAs. While it's true that “smart phones” can have Palm or Windows operating systems running on them, “non‐smart” phones are pretty smart themselves. Today's typical cell phones can
Store a considerable amount of contact information
Surf the Internet
Send and receive email
Play music
Wirelessly interact with other pieces of hardware
Play games
Capture video and pictures
While all of these features increase efficiency, enhance user experience, and are pretty cool, they open up a number of security concerns. In large part, this is because the operating systems on cell phones are becoming more complex, meaning there is more that can be exploited.
Cell‐Phone Malware
Some people don't understand that cell‐phone malware actually exists. In reality, there is a quite a bit of it. Some sources say more than 300 pieces of mobile malware are out in the wild today. That's a big number and the threat needs to be taken seriously.
As stated in Chapter 2, “Understanding the Devices,” many cell phones utilize the Symbian operating systems. Because of this, there is a great deal of malware for Symbian OS–based phones. Fortunately, a number of companies have security solutions for Symbian‐based phones. Nonetheless, many enterprises simply do not have the proper solutions in place. That needs to change.
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