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NEW DELHI
FEBRUARY 13, 2007
McAfee announced findings from new research that reveals mobile operators
globally are experiencing more mobile malware attacks than ever before, and
spending more time and money on recovery from these attacks. The research found
that nearly half of the operators who have experienced mobile malware outbreaks
have had one within the last three months. Twice as many mobile operators spent
over $200,000 on mobile security in 2006, compared to 2005.
The Informa Telecoms & Media (ITM) study, sponsored by McAfee(R), is one
of the first of its kind to examine in detail mobile operators' past
experiences, current attitudes and future plans with regards to mobile security.
The research reveals that mobile operators are already feeling the impact of
mobile threats on customer satisfaction and network performance and are
increasingly concerned about the potential impact on their brand and the success
of new revenue-generating services.
The purpose of the study was to discover to what extent mobile operators are
affected by mobile threats. The findings revealed that:
- 83 percent of mobile operators questioned have been hit by mobile device
infections
- The number of reported security incidents in 2006 was more than five times
as high as in 2005
- The number of mobile operators in Europe and APAC reporting incidents
affecting more than 1,000 devices more than doubled in 2006
- 100 percent more operators spent over $200,000 on mobile security in 2006
compared to 2005
- The number of mobile operators estimating that the cost of dealing with
mobile threats is more than 1000 hours increased by 700 percent.
The main impact of security incidents was on customer satisfaction, a key
issue in an industry still plagued by high turnover. Nearly one-third (29
percent) of operators stated that subscriber satisfaction had suffered more than
any other factor including revenue. The second most serious impact from mobile
malware infections was on network performance.
The research clearly indicates that mobile operators are concerned with the
impact of mobile security on their business. Almost 80 percent cited impact on
public relations or their brand as of high concern, closely followed by the loss
of credibility in the reliability of new services - a crucial issue as operators
seek to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) and lifetime value in maturing
markets.
Despite the fact that most mobile operators are experiencing mobile security
incidents and are concerned with its future impact, the research also highlights
a large gap between the kind of protection operators consider important and that
which they actually deploy. Less than one-third of the operators who consider
application and device-level protection important actually deploy protection at
these levels. Furthermore, although fewer operators consider network level
protection important, more than half deploy protection at this level.
In line with the growing importance of mobile security to service providers,
85 percent of those questioned plan to increase their mobile security budgets to
tackle issues including network intrusion, mobile viruses, denial-of-service
attacks, spam and mobile phishing (SMiShing).
"This research clearly demonstrates that mobile security is moving
quickly up the industry agenda with the number of malware incidents rising and
more time and money being dedicated to resolving mobile security issues,"
said Victor Kouznetsov, senior vice president of McAfee Mobile Security.
"As mobile data use and functionality proliferates and mobile operators
around the world are transforming their businesses from airtime revenue models
to transaction- based and content-centric businesses, security is becoming an
essential enabler for the success of new revenue-generating services."
The research was conducted by Informa Telecoms & Media between December
2006 and January 2007. Page(s) 1
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