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Mobile Security Largely Based on Lack of Windows Monoculture

Without a doubt, the most influential factor driving the current state of IT security is the ubiquitous presence of Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system on a vast majority of the world’s PCs.

By Dave Gradijan

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"It’s not about Windows Mobile having more security features than any other platform; it’s about enterprise customers who already see a need to align mobile security and device management with how they do things in the desktop world," he said. "If they have existing management tools and policies for Windows desktops and laptops, it’s logical and effective to extend that to handheld devices."

Security experts contend that there are still far too many different products in people’s hands and that Windows Mobile commands far too little share of the wireless market for there to be anything close to a similar level of risk as the dangers associated with today’s Microsoft desktop monoculture.

As the OS does become more widely used, however, the risk of attack will grow, according to security specialists.

"It’s true there haven’t been many mobile viruses, and you can still debate whether those will ever be as prevalent as desktop attacks," said Curtis Cresta, general manager of antivirus maker F-Secure North America. "But you can also look at the history of IT and decide what will happen as more users adopt each OS; as more smart phones become available and more people are using them, the pool for each OS gets bigger, and we believe there will also be a bigger pool of attacks."

-Matt Hines, InfoWorld