Mobile Malware Will Grow in 2011, Predicts IT Security Firm

Cybercriminals will feast on the insatiable demand for smartphones and tablets, like Apple's iPad, to infest as many devices with malware as possible in 2011, security firm M86 predicts.

In a four-page white paper released last week (.pdf), the Web and e-mail security firm released their top eight cyberthreat predictions for the new year. Among the multiplicity of threats facing Web and e-mail users, M86 devotes the most time to mobile devices.

"Smartphone adoption in the enterprise will only continue to grow, and, as the focus shifts toward the tablet platform, we anticipate malware targeting all of the mobile platforms to increase in 2011,” Bradley Anstis, vice president of technical strategy for M86 Security, said in a statement.

But the white paper disproportionately concentrates on Google's mobile operating system, Android, because of its growing market share and open source platform.

The open source nature on the Android platform particularly seems to worry M86.