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Insightful comment on mobile telephony technology and market.
Now here’s something ironic: Openmind Networks wants people to take a survey on cyberbullying by answering questions via text message. So ultimately some participants will get to pay premium rates and possibly open themselves up to mobile Spam. Brilliant! Trade one concern for another.
And speaking of mobile spam, The Independent’s Rhodri Marsden wrote a hilarious piece on an experience with mobile Spam, including some helpful hints on what to do:
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As the Times Online reports, popular smartphones such as the iPhone and Blackberry are very quickly becoming popular targets for hackers and spammers:
Another attraction for spammers is that mobiles are quickly outgrowing the number of computers. Gartner, the industry analyst, forecasts that there will be four billion mobiles compared with 1.3 billion computers by 2010. Mobile spam is rampant in China, where it is much cheaper to send texts and fewer people have computers, Mr Cook said. Others are more sceptical. Sending 100,000 spam e-mails costs only a few dollars, which is significantly cheaper than texting, Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos, a computer security company, said.
Actually, this last part is soon to be a concern of the past as carriers such as Sprint offer comprehensive, all-inclusive packages that provide both voice and data for low prices. And let’s not forget the attractive nature of unlocked smartphones.
All of the above are just more factors to consider when asking whether or not mobile security is truly a concern. (Note- we say this last line sarcastically.)
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There is a lot of hype about mobile advertising and its effectiveness and growth potential but do advertisers and media buyers share this view? How will mobile advertising develop and what will operators need to be successful in this area?
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As people begin to focus on the emergence of more and more 3G wireless devices, security concerns are being raised as well. The newest iPhone is the latest call to action for the enterprise community, as reported in Brian Prince’s eWeek article:
Whether IT organizations are ready or not, smart phones are a reality for enterprises. Gartner analysts predicted in a January report that smart-phone sales will reach about 173 million in 2008, a jump of 42 percent from last year. The iPhone 3G, stated to be available July 11, is Apple's latest attempt to capitalize on consumers' desire for Internet-enabled phones with more and more functionality.
It still seems surprising to us that
"Data encryption should not require special behavior by the user, such as placing sensitive data in special folders," Dearing said. "Many users of smart phones are technically savvy enough to skirt around IT policies by hard-resetting a device and removing the security software. The low cost of the smart phone also makes it easy for users to replace a standard-issue or lost smart phone with a new device and merely self-configure the device to sync with IT servers."
It’ll be interesting to watch the responses to Brian’s question of whether or not readers feel their organizations do a good job of monitoring smartphone security.
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According to the
But where are consumers actually making these mobile purchases? For some, mobile shopping may conjure up an image of a diehard QVC viewer merely moving from his or her landline to her wireless phone.
But in reality, mobile ecommerce is extremely innovative. Just look at what a Cisco study reveals::
- 42 percent of retailers provide the ability to view product information on a mobile device through reformatted web pages or specific mobile pages
- 15 percent offer the ability to conduct transactions (make purchases, complete inventory queries, etc.)
- 10 percent are using SMS to provide information or answers to customers' questions
- 6 percent have webpages and a URL specifically designed for mobile use
It’s all very exciting indeed! As this area of commerce continues to rise, so will the conveniences of storing data on mobile sites such as credit card information and other personal details, making it more important than ever that consumers protect their mobile devices.
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Online forums where thousands of child-porn images have been posted have been stricken from three Internet providers, including two of the nation's five largest, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday.
Verizon, Time Warner Cable and Sprint agreed with Cuomo to block access to child pornography disseminated through newsgroups and user groups, a hard-to-regulate sector of the Internet designed to bring together users with like interests.
This is a tremendous victory in the ongoing fight to stop easy access to illegal online content- in particular the sexual exploitation of children. But officials involved raised an important issue:
When one point of Web access is closed, the same perpetrators are likely to open another. And his agreements with the online services end at the nation's borders.
"They are very inventive and obviously a lot of this industry moves offshore very quickly," said Professor Christine Corcos of the
It is absolutely imperative that other nations join this commitment by enacting similar efforts. Additionally, as the adoption of the mobile Internet continues to grow, mobile carriers need to take these steps as well. Our CEO, Lorcan Burke, weighed in:
"This is a real step in the right direction to combat the growing presence of illegal and exploitative child content online. However, it is crucial that these efforts are extended into the mobile environment, which has seen major growth in illegal content globally over the last year, as the number of mobile subscribers accessing the internet via their phones continues to rise rapidly.
"The
"Protecting children and stopping the proliferation of this material needs to be a global effort, with service providers at the helm. By not taking mobile into account, however, the industry risks seeing a ‘platform jump:’ in which these sites move onto mobile. We encourage mobile service providers to extend these blocks and to involve groups that have an in-depth knowledge of these threats to children, such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). Many adult pornographic sites are already being accessed using mobile technology - I can only hope that this doesn't accelerate the trend to include illegal content by forcing if off of the PC."
We at AdaptiveMobile applaud the
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As ZDNet Asia reported recently, Symantec had conducted a survey that revealed some very startling data about mobile security in
Conducted between November 2007 and February 2008, the Web-based survey found that nearly half of the 560 respondents use mobile devices to access corporate e-mail accounts, but fewer than one-third of the enterprises had mobile security policies in place.
In addition, 27 percent indicated they did not have mobile antivirus software.
Conducted on businesses in
It is for reasons like this that we are pleased to announce our partnership with Datacraft, the leading independent IT services and solutions company in Asia Pacific. AdaptiveMobile will be supporting Datacraft’s portfolio of mobile security solutions across 13 countries in the region, including
With AdaptiveMobile’s protection against illegal and inappropriate content, mobile viruses and malware, and unsolicited or unauthorized communications, we will see to it that this number decreases in the coming months!
Also in further dedication to our supporting this region, our own Simeon Coney, Vice President of Strategic Development at AdaptiveMobile, will be presenting at this year's CommunicAsia, 17 to 20 June, in
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We spend a lot of time educating about predators and productivity when it comes to kids’ use of mobile phones. But what about their health? As
This all goes back to basic parental guidance. It’s not about controlling kids or “being too strict.” Children need structure and much like encouraging them to brush their teeth and eat their vegetables, parents need to make sure they are getting proper rest.
We have been successfully arming parents with the tools they need to ensure that kids’ having a mobile phone remains a privilege and not a detriment. By enabling time-of-day restrictions, parents can prevent all-night texting binges from interfering with much needed rest and development, as well as making sure that kids are focused during the school day. This is an issue parents are dealing with worldwide and we work with carriers across the globe to provide the most flexible, user-friendly solution .
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In both cases, the suspected counterfeit mobile phones, wireless accessories and battery charger appeared to have been imported from
This could carry a multitude of serious problems for individuals who purchase such devices. Other than the obvious potential malfunctions and physical safety, what about rogue software or other malicious hidden insecurities?
When it comes to communication devices, do yourself a favor: buy from a reputable source. Saving some money now could prove to be devastatingly costly later. As officials indicate, the true extent of the counterfeiting problem isn’t currently known, but it appears that it could be enormous.
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Think teens sharing explicit photos of themselves with girlfriends or boyfriends is just “teens being teens?” Well, consider this- it’s also illegal:
So for those who believe exercising parental controls on kids’ phones is an invasion of privacy, it is really time for a wake up call. Children- even teens- need to be guided, even when it comes to using the Internet or mobile phones. It isn’t about spying, it’s about protecting.
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No doubt about it, data security breaches and theft have been on the rise for the last few years. PrivacyRights.org has a complete, chronological listing of breaches and consumer impact from 2005 to 2008. Both the number of breaches and amount of consumers affected are just astounding. Interestingly enough, in the last year there seemed to be a spike in how much data was compromised via lost or stolen laptops, followed by flash drives. It seems that with the number of organizations increasingly depending on smart phones over lap tops, it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing breaches as a result of mobile devices…
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With the snowballing introduction of Internet-enabled mobile devices and 3G phones, comScore had been planning to expand its mobile measurement reporting, but Magid Abraham, comScore's president and CEO, estimated that the acquisition of M:Metrics accelerated that effort by two years. "We believe we are now at an inflection point of Internet usage of mobile devices," Abraham said on a conference call this morning.
Through the acquisition, comScore will add about 100 new clients to its current customer base of 950. The combined sales forces will now be able to work together and cross-sell the two companies' products.
comScore expects that M:Metrics' data tracking tools will complement its current Web metrics services, providing advertisers and publishers with a holistic picture of how people interact with digital media as they move toward integrated cross-platform marketing campaigns.
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It's no secret that cyber-bullying is on the rise, with the increase of subsequent physical violence hot on its heels. Throughout the world, government leaders are responding by working to enact legislation, much like what officials are doing in the
Such communications would include any verbal, textual or graphic communication by using any electronic device, such as a computer, telephone, cell phone, text-messaging device and/or personal data assistance device.
Under the bill sponsored by Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr., D-Smithfield, repeated violations threatening "physical or emotional well-being of any student" would be grounds for filing a petition for a Family Court determination that the offending student is wayward and/or delinquent, according to a news release.
Again, we commend any steps taken to protect children, but with such a blanket approach, how will this be enforced? And further, the legislation is pretty restrictive when it comes to where these attacks occur in order for there to be any enforcement of punishment:
The board of a school district of a public school shall adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying at school. The policy shall specifically prohibit harassment, intimidation and bullying by students at school and address prevention of an education about such behavior. The policy shall be adopted through a process that includes representation of parents or
guardians, school employees, volunteers, pupils, school administrators and community representatives.
This all goes back to parental awareness. Clearly schools cannot baby-sit their students when kids are at home, but as the saying goes, "it takes a village…" So the fact that the institutions that guide our youth are starting to create awareness is a great step towards encouraging parents to get involved. After all, fundamental life lessons are learned at home.
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This Wall Street Journal article by Joseph De Avila indicates that smart phone attacks are starting to be taken seriously by the US enterprise. However, it seems that most of the analyst experts cited in this piece do not believe mobile malware and other attacks are a big problem, when compared to that of PCs:
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