Prepare for Mobile Spam Onslaught, Cloudmark Warns

Messaging security company Cloudmark presented the results of research into worldwide mobile abuse trends. Bottom line: more spam, more phishing, more viruses.Cloudmark's security solutions are used by many of the world's mobile and landline operators, including Sprint/Nextel, Earthlink, Comcast and Swisscom. By analyzing mobile traffic data, the company has been able to identify threat trends and says that all signs point to a global rise in mobile spam and malware.

The nature of the threat varies by region, however. In the United States, where mobile operators enable SMS messages to be sent via e-mail, abuse accounts for almost 25 percent of all messages sent to mobile devices via e-mail, according to Cloudmark. Ferris Research has reported that in 2007, 1.1 million SMS spam messages were received in the U.S.--up 38 percent from 2006--and expects the number to grow to 1.5 million in 2008.

Mobile spam attacks in North America have been fairly primitive up to now. But Cloudmark expects that as mobile advertising, mobile banking, and other new uses catch on, attackers will likely follow suit with more sophisticated scams.Marketwire