Mobile malware not a serious threat

The threat of rogue code compromising the security of mobile phones is not yet as serious as recent publicity suggested, according to a leading anti-virus firm.

Risto Siilasmaa, chief executive of anti-virus vendor F-Secure, said: "Most of the technically interesting ways of exploiting devices are not real-world threats."

F-Secure has discovered and documented 320 pieces of malware and Siilasmaa concedes that he was "surprised by the speed at which mobile malware variants have appeared". Despite this he hasn't issued a single security alert since the first mobile virus was found in 2004.

Over-hyping of the threat in the media serves only as a short-sales gain for anti-virus companies but they risk aggravating large mobile operators and manufacturers by scaring people away from using data services.

The propagation of worms on mobile devices hasn't been widespread, but a couple of spyware programs have raised privacy concerns.

Two of them, Acallno and Flexispy have to be installed manually on a phone and so require physical access. Once in place, however, they can discreetly forward phone communication to a third-party phone or a remote server.

Siilasmaa insisted that he's not underestimating what he recognises to be a "developing threat", pointing out that F-Secure had a mobile anti-virus solution before there were any known viruses in the wild.

F-Secure is one of the main players in mobile security research, working closely with fellow Finnish company, Nokia to identify viruses, worms and exploits on Symbian and other mobile operating systems.