Larry Bridwell, VP of communication for the Brno-based ISV, acknowledged that mobile viruses are still in their infancy compared to fixed-line ones, with analyst estimates suggesting they number no more than 350 to 400, compared to 300,000 known threats for PCs. However, we see it as the next major platform [for attack], he said.
At the moment, Grisoft’s AVG Mobile Security runs only on Symbian devices running the UIQ user interface, which include all Sony Ericsson smart phones and the few Motorolas that run on Symbian. He said support will be extended to other platforms, with Symbian S60 (i.e. Nokia and Samsung) as well as Windows Mobile as the obvious first candidates. He noted that around 70% of the viruses written for mobiles to date are for the Symbian OS.
Grisoft is not the first AV vendor to address the mobile market, of course, Finland’s F-Secure holding that distinction, though larger players such as McAfee have also launched product for this segment. F-Secure, which really pioneered the concept, also admitted in a recent interview with Computer Business Review that mobile viruses have yet to go mainstream, so much so that it currently pushes its ISP product as it main differentiator and hope for the immediate future.
Bridwell speculated as to the reason that mobile viruses have yet to become the big problem industry pundits, including him in his former job at ICSA Labs, have been predicting since the late nineties. Today, malware writers are making money by attacking PCs and laptops, either through theft of personal data or by recruiting PCs for botnets, there they charge spammers $60-$100 per machine, per month to use them, he said. With those kinds of return from the low-hanging fruit, why should they devote time and energy to write for new platforms they don’t know as well?
Our View
It’s curious, not only that Grisoft should choose to beta a mobile security product now, when the experience of companies like F-Secure shows it’s still a bit too early for one, but also that it should opt to debut on UIQ, which blogosphere columnists suggest is the most secure of the Symbian flavors out there right now.
