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With an increasing number of security threats lurking in the backyard of todays mobile devices, their safety is at stake. Symantec aspires to provide security, storage and systems management solutions to secure and manage information against risks completely and efficiently. Vishal Dhupar, managing director, Symantec, talks about the potential security threats, and what the company offers

What are the most serious threats that mobile equipments are susceptible to?
Increased mobility is a bonanza for potential attackers. Today, organizations are no longer bound by perimeters. And to make the situation more complex, there is now convergence of email and web attacks with the emergence of new mediums like VoIP and SMS. If we take the example of mobile phones, SMS and MMS are emerging as new vectors for spam and phishing activity. The term SmiShing was coined by the industry to describe such threats. Threats to various mobile devices span across spam, phishing, pharming, spyware, malware, botnets, etc. They have become the new-age face of the security landscape.

Which mobile equipments are more vulnerable than others?
In 2009, 3.69 mn laptops will connect to Indian networks, according to Gartner. Todays enterprises are a jungle of mobile endpoints, with the proportion of laptops, smartphones and PDAs growing at a rapid rate. The target for attackers today, is the information residing in the endpoints and not the infrastructure. Hence, every endpoint is a potential target for them.

Are there specific trends that you can point to, when we talk about vulnerability of mobile devices?
Symantec foresees some important trends in 2009. Recent attacks include new strains of malware consisting of millions of distinct threats that propagate as a single core piece. There are now more malicious programs created than legitimate ones. With the number of available web services increasing and browsers continuing to converge on a uniform interpretation standard for scripting languages, Symantec expects that the number of new web based threats will continue to increase. Also, the global economic crisis will be the basis for many new attacks. Such attacks may include emails that promise to get a mortgage or refinance. We expect to see an increase in scams that prey on people who have had homes foreclosed, an increase in work-from-home scams targeting the unemployed, and an increase in spam that mimics job sites. Social networking sites are also under threat. These threats would involve phishing for username accounts and/or using social context as a way to increase the success rate of an online threat. These threats will become increasingly important for enterprise IT organizations since the newly entering workforce often accesses these tools using corporate resources.

We saw a 65% drop in spam between 24 hours prior to the McColo shutdown and 24 hours after that. We expect to see spam levels rise back to approximately 75-80%. Command-and-control systems will be re-established and more importantly, this event may drive spammers toward the continued use of peer-to-peer botnets, which are generally more resilient.

Virtualization technology will be incorporated into security solutions to provide an environment isolated and protected from the chaos of a general purpose operating system environment. This technology will provide a safe environment for sensitive transactions such as banking, and protect critical infrastructure, such as security components that protect the general purpose of operating environment.

Snoopware, where hackers can listen to phone conversations, is on the rise, especially in mobile phones. Does Symantec have an offering to counter this?
Yes, Snoopware, can secretly activate the microphone and camera on a mobile device to snoop on conversations and other dialogs in the immediate vicinity of the phone. This particular threat can be especially dangerous as sensitive business and personal data may be passed along with the conversation. We understand the need of the customers to be protected while using a mobile device.

Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0 for Windows and 4.x for Symbian offer comprehensive protection against such threats on mobile devices.

What is the market potential for security vendors?
According to industry sources, the Indian security market (comprising both products and services) touched Rs 1,416 crore last year. The reasons for this tremendous growth are increased compliance and regulatory norms, increasing number of network entry points (laptops and PDAs) and the growing proportion of mobile workforce.

In the current economic conditions, security continues to be a priority for companies, hence the potential for security vendors will always remain high.

How is Symantec geared to tackle these threats?
New-age threats require new-age solutions. Todays organizations need to manage risk proactively, protecting not just the infrastructure that data resides in, but also the information itself.

Symantec has launched its Endpoint Protection 11.0, which resets the bar for endpoint security by reducing overhead time and costs, so that customers can efficiently manage security and gain confidence that their corporate assets and business are protected.

We also recently announced Symantec Data Loss Prevention, version 9.0, which provides organizations with increased ability to discover, monitor and protect confidential information wherever it is stored or used. It provides companies with comprehensive Data Loss Prevention (DLP) coverage across endpoints, networks and storage systems through a single, unified interface to protect structured and unstructured data.

Symantec Network Access Control 11.0 securely controls access to corporate networks, enforces endpoint security policy and easily integrates with existing network infrastructures.

Apart from traditional devices like laptops and PCs, is Symantec developing anti-virus protection for new-age devices like iPods and MP3 players, which have recently been showing signs of their first viruses?
The actual threat posed by malware on iPods and MP3 players are still quite small as compared to normal desktop operating systems. But as these devices get more sophisticated and easier to use, we will see more malware attacking them.

Take malware in smartphones for example. Some may cause premium rate calls or messages being sent, losing the users money but they were never very widespread. In this regard, one of the products Symantec has developed to protect smartphones is the Norton Smartphone security software.

Urvashi Kaul & Vandana Sebastian
urvashik@cybermedia.co.in
vandanase@cybermedia.co.in

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