Cyber criminals never sit idle. They go where Internet users go. With the usage of mobile and cloud platforms going up significantly, cyber criminals seem to have increased their focus on this new, unchartered hunting ground.

Internet security solutions company Symantec has predicted that attacks will go up in 2013.

“The rapid rise of Android malware in 2012 confirms this,” Anand Naik, Managing Director (Sales, India and SAARC) of Symantec, said, while predicting the attack patterns in 2013.

As unmanaged mobile devices continue to enter and exit corporate networks and pick up data that later tend to become stored in other clouds, there is increased risk of breaches and targeted attacks on mobile device data. As users add applications to their phones they will pick up malware.

“There is an uptake in mobile applications across organisations with half of Indian enterprises at least discussing deploying custom mobile applications and one-third currently implementing or have already implemented custom mobile applications,” he said quoting a survey the company conducted recently.

Some mobile malware duplicates old threats, like stealing information from devices. But it also has created new twists on old malware. “In 2013, you can be sure mobile technology will continue to advance and thereby create new opportunities for cybercriminals,” he said.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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