Outbreak on a smartphone could be worse

Once Smartphones Become Truly Common, It will be targetted by viruses

Northeastern University researchers say that smartphones will soon be targeted by viruses on a massive scale, but a study by the researchers could provide a way to negate these attacks. Northeastern University physicist and network scientist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi and fellow researchers tracked the spreading potential of Bluetooth and multimedia messaging service viruses, and predicted that these viruses will become a significant threat to smartphones that gain at least a 10 percent market share.

The user base for smart, handheld devices is still small and fragmented, making a large virus outbreak impossible. However, Barabasi warns that once smartphones are more widely used and one of the operating systems increases its market share, the users of the system will be targeted by mobile viruses in only a matter of minutes. He says an outbreak on a smartphone could be worse than any outbreak on a traditional computer.

Pu Wang, a Ph.D. candidate at Northeastern's Center for Complex Network Research, says understanding the basic spreading patterns of the viruses could help researchers find ways of minimizing their impact, estimate the realistic risk carried by mobile viruses, and develop measures to avoid the costly and damaging effects of outbreaks.

Refer here to read more details on Nort Eastern University website.