Campaign to battle smartphone malware

A UK IT security campaign urges users of smartphones to take more measures to protect themselves from malware.

Trojan virus versions of popular applications are chief among the increased threats designed for smartphones, and Get Safe Online say that initiative should be taken by the government, police and industry to take further steps to protect devices.

It is common for the current threats to secretly generate cash for its developers through expensive text messaging services.

The BBC's technology correspondent Mark Ward commented:

"Smartphones are especially tempting because they run apps.

Most of those apps are vetted before you can install them but that does not provide bullet-proof protection.

It can be hard to distinguish between legitimate apps that want access to your contacts so they can spread the word about a high score, and those that just want to steal the list of names.

A typical scam involves an app designed to send texts to premium rate services without the user knowing.

Apps can appear to be bona fide software or sometimes masquerade as stripped down free versions of well-known games."