Most people wouldn’t think about surfing the web on their desktop or laptop without some form of anti-virus protection, but what about on their iPhones or BlackBerry devices?
New stats from Trend Micro show that a majority of the people that browse, send corporate emails and even check their bank accounts using a smartphone are mostly oblivious to the security risks: Almost half (45 percent) of smartphone owners had fallen victim to some form of malware attempt — while less than a quarter (23 percent) of smartphone owners even use the security software that comes pre-installed with their phone.
Trend Micro surveyed over 1,000 smartphone users; the OS’ were split pretty evenly between iPhones, RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) and Windows, with about a hundred Palm (NSDQ: PALM) and Symbian users in the mix.
Not surprisingly, the research found that iPhone owners were more susceptible to malware, phishing and other mobile web security risks, simply because the device makes it so easy to click on links, browse potentially hijacked sites and download content. In contrast, BlackBerry owners were disproportionately more likely to get inboxes full of spam.
But smartphone users overall don’t seem to be very savvy about the security risks that come from mobile browsing, creating a potential gold mine for hackers and identity thieves. On the flip side, the increased usage of mobile banking and mobile payment services (like Zong, for social networks and games), in particular, could also create a market for developers and startups that create easy-to-use security apps. Release.

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