Mobile security also known as mobile phone security has become an essential factor day by day in mobile computing. Nowadays some personal and business information is stored on smartphones. Many business organizations use smartphones as a communication medium; however, it is also used as a tool for organizing and planning their private life as well as work.
These companies are making profound changes in information systems organizations, and thus they have become the source of new risks within companies. Smartphones gather and compile a significant amount of sensitive information to which access must be controlled to secure the privacy of the intellectual property or users of a particular company. All smartphones are preferred as targets of attack. These attacks target the weaknesses related to smartphones which can come from text messaging or SMS and other means of communication such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Bluetooth, GSM, and Wifi networks.
There are attacks that also exploit software vulnerabilities from both the operating system and web browser. There are forms of malicious software that depend on the imperfect knowledge of the users. Various security counter policies are being invented and implemented to smartphones from security in several layers of software to the classification of information to end users. There are some reasonable measures to be seen at all levels from design to access via development of software layers, operating systems, and downloadable apps.
Smartphone users get exposed to several threats when they use their phones. By the half of 2012, there was an increase of 261% unique mobile threats as according to ABI Research. Their risks can crack the operation of the smartphone and send or change user data. Due to this reason, the applications implemented must guarantee the integrity and privacy of the information they handle.
Furthermore, as some apps are themselves can be malware, their activities and functionality should be limited. For example, they are blocking access to the address book of the user, restriction apps from accessing location information through GPS, stopping the transmission of data on the network, sending SMS messages that are authorized to users and much more.