Posted October 18th, 2012 by CJ Arlotta
How
serious is the threat posed by mobile malware? The accelerating
interest in games, social networking, productivity apps and financial
tools for mobile platforms has created a very serious threat indeed. ABI Research
reports that due to the increase in security breaches, the global
market for mobile application security will be worth $398 million by the
end of 2012. Mobile device management (MDM) vendors and managed services providers (MSPs) will surely want keep their eyes on this fast-growing market.According to the ABI Research report, this revenue number includes sales of paid apps, partnerships with manufacturers and operators, white label deals, and data set sales. “With the increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile threats are on the rise,” says Senior Cyber Security Analyst Michela Menting. “This has implications for security at the corporate level as well as for individual privacy.” ABI Research calculates that there have been over 130 billion downloads of mobile security apps.
ABI Research’s report just adds more fuel to the flames of mobile device market momentum. For instance, Ovum estimates that smartphone shipments could reach nearly 57 percent of total devices sold in emerging markets by 2017. These smartphones, along with other mobile devices, will have to adjust to loss, theft, spam, Trojans, spyware, data breach, and aggressive advertising. These are concerns that will need to be addressed by the global market for mobile application security.
And Gartner recently made several predictions and recommendations regarding the bring your own device (BYOD) and mobile device management, which work hand in hand with mobile application security, including that companies should manage BYOD with application management and appropriate cloud service.
