Malware in Mobile Devices : A study of analysing the emerging threat landscape on mobile platforms

Malicious software or malware are constantly on the rise and lately, we observe threats that differ from what we have seen before. Threats tend to penetrate through existing prevention measures thus a choice of studying recent malware was highly appealing. To narrow down the research, a selection of analysing the emerging threat landscape on mobile platforms was chosen due to its progressive publicity. The study’s result section has been divided into three separate parts. The first chapter of the results, consists of a Problem Analysis which covers the topic regarding crucial aspects of mobile devices, how user behaviour affects the probability of plausible infections. Also, a questionnaire has been sent out to 100 participants to discover particular user behaviour with a mobile device. Second chapter Malware Research explores previous and recent detected malware, in addition to their characteristics. Last chapter Security Policy, provides a functional IT security policy that can be implemented and used as a guideline in organisations. The policy is primarily intended to guide mobile users towards safer management and usage in a workplace or of personal use. Research revealed that there is a significant link between user behaviour and device management for a mobile user to get potentially infected by malware. Furthermore, mobile malware is progressive and continuously adapting from users habits of devices and applications