Botnets to Strike Smarthphones in 2009

Botnets to Strike Smarthphones in 2009

Security researchers are alerting users of smartphones for being the possible prey of botnet based attacks. The Georgia Tech Information Security Center said that spam and other botnet-based hits will extend in mobiles in the forthcoming months.


The researchers stated, "As internet telephony and mobile computing handle more and more data, they will become more frequent targets of cyber crime."



One thing that's been raising concerns among researchers is that hackers may furtively breach phones just like what they do in network computers, turning them into virtual bots. Researchers fear that smartphones may be the hackers' next target because of its expanding web features.



Patrick Traynor, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, said, "Large cellular botnets could then be used to perpetrate a [denial of service] attack against the core of the cellular network."



The researchers, however, indicated that the fairly closed nature of cellular networks compared to the internet will aid carriers combat malicious schemes. They also expressed that no actual attacks are seen to have been plotted as of yet.