Smartphone Security and Performance Roundup

New reports show that Google Inc.'s Android is, by far, the most popular mobile target for malicious software. Additionally, one smartphone giant has lost virtually all its allure, credibility, and strength with corporate customers while a flashier, more polished rival takes the top spot. Lastly, another (final?) patch will hopefully be released next week to fix Apple Inc. iPad and iPhone battery woes.

Focal Points:

• New security reports from Intel Corp.'s McAfee and Juniper Networks, Inc. find that nearly all mobile malware in the third quarter was targeted at Google's Android operating system. The reports point to several reasons for this trend, including the multitude of non-policed Android marketplaces, Google's unrestrictive official Android Market policies, and vendors' slow pace in releasing security patches or new versions of Android for older hardware.  A majority of malicious Android applications were based on pirated copies of legitimate applications with one of the most popular attacks being Trojans that take over the phone to send SMS messages that charge victims accounts for use. The last 11 quarters have seen rises in mobile malware and accompanying attacks as McAfee states that malware targeted at Android devices jumped rose nearly 37 percent since last quarter after having risen 76 percent in the previous quarter. McAfee goes on to raise its prediction on the number of unique Android malware samples from 70 million to 75 million by the end of the year.
• Research in Motion, Ltd.'s (RIM) descent from grace has been as well publicized as the Apple iPhone's rise to favor among the gadget elite. As this trend shows little sign of stopping, new reports show that RIM's presence in the business market has slipped from 35 percent in 2010 to 32 percent in 2010 while the iPhone has jumped from 31 percent to 45 percent during the same period. Smartphone use overall among corporate customers rose from 85 percent to 95 percent while Android boosted market share by a factor of two to nearly 22 percent. This comes as some new BlackBerry 7-equipped BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 devices are failing to power up after being charged overnight and RIM has begun to offer deep discounts on its PlayBook tablets to compete with the iPad and newer offerings from Amazon.com, Inc. and Barnes & Noble, Inc.
• While Apple iPhones are less prone to viruses, gaining increasing favor among corporate customers, and the company claims nearly half of all smartphone profits, the company still has its fair share of issues. The latest iOS operating system, version 5, shipped with issues affecting its battery life that Apple has attempted to quell with the recent release of iOS 5.0.1. Unfortunately, the fix only worked on some devices and other smartphone users have complained that the patch negatively affected performance. The company is working on a patch to the patch, iOS 5.0.2, which it is hopes will be working and available next week. Postponement is due to the discovery of memory leaks and the need to address Wi-Fi performance issues plaguing both iPads and iPhones running iOS 5. Elsewhere, Apple has also released information detailing poorly performing environmental practices at 15 Chinese plants that supply Apple components. A recent GreenPeace report on technology vendor environmental practices ranked the company fourth in environmental practices, trailing Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell, Inc., and Nokia Corp.

Experton Group believes malware and other security vulnerability attacks targeting the Android operating system should be expected given Google's permissive Market policies and the wide number of manufacturers, permutations, and versions of in the wild. Though Google's open source strategy relies on the ability for manufacturers and developers to use the platform as they see fit, the resulting fragmentation allows for too many open, exploitable avenues for skilled and semi-skilled hackers to target. Android remains and will grow as an acceptable and desirable smartphone and tablet platform for the corporate customer; however, IT executives need to craft, monitor, and enforce device- and network-side security policies. Policy enforcement must be crafted to limit access to non-approved marketplaces and applications, require the use of centrally-monitored antivirus software, and incorporate regular security patching. IT executives must also work with selected wireless vendors to understand and require security and operating system updates from hardware vendors that comply with the need to keep ahead of security threats. At the risk of repeating what even the most casual smartphone industry observer already knows, RIM has lost any real strength it had in the market and has no chance to regain former glory. IT executives that are sticking with BlackBerry are doing so due its combination of user interface familiarity and significant infrastructure investment. With the amount of writing on the wall, it is impossible not to acknowledge the increasing irrelevancy of the BlackBerry enterprise platform and the eventual need to migrate off entirely. IT executives should be actively working on strategies to eliminate dependency on RIM solutions within the next 18 or fewer months by ensuring redundant devices, platforms, and service are in place. Apple’s battery woes have plagued many, but not all, iPad and iPhone users running iOS 5, but it is virtually certain that the company can address these problems sufficiently well before the year's end. As these issues inexplicably do not affect all devices, IT executives should consider swapping out users suffering particularly poor performance or otherwise rolling back to an earlier version of the operating system until the dust settles.