<p>As mobile devices become more deeply woven into the fabric of our personal and work lives, cyber criminals are taking increasingly vicious and disturbingly personal shots at us, according to the 2015 State of Mobile Malware Report by Blue Coat Systems.<br><br>Pornography returned as the number one threat vector after dropping to number two last year and the other three top types of malware in this year’s report are Ransomware, Potentially Unwanted Software (PUS), and Information Leakage. The mobile threat landscape is becoming more active.<br><br>Cyber blackmail (mobile ransomware attacks) leads the way as a top malware type in 2015, along with the stealthy insertion of spyware on devices that allows attackers to profile behavior and online habits. The new Blue Coat report, describes the latest trends and vulnerabilities in mobile malware, provides advice for strengthening corporate defenses and educating mobile device users, and offers predictions about the future of mobile threats.<br><br>“As we sleep, exercise, work and shop with our mobile devices, cyber criminals are waiting to take advantage of the data these devices collect, as evidenced by the types of malware and attacks we’re seeing,” said Dr Hugh Thompson, CTO and senior vice president, Blue Coat. “The implications of this nefarious activity certainly carry over to corporate IT as organizations rapidly adopt cloud-based, mobile versions of enterprise applications, opening up another avenue for attackers. A holistic and strategic approach to managing risk must extend the perimeter to mobile and cloud environments—based on a realistic, accurate look at the problem—and deploy advanced protections that can prioritize and remediate sophisticated, emerging and unknown threats.”<br><br>With no signs of slowing down, the market for mobile devices is booming. Anticipating that millions more of these devices will hit the street in the coming years, Blue Coat makes the following observations and predictions about the future of this trend.<br><br>(BW Online Bureau)</p>
