In the past 12 months, we’ve seen how easily we become victims of malicious acts in the form of malware, hacktivists, cyber criminals, as well as other methods of breaching security in our mobile devices.  The threat arises from the fact that everyone has gone mobile, from pre-teens to oldies.  Everyone is sporting either a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device.  And malicious people are taking advantage of the fact that some people don’t really care much about their devices’ security.

According to Deloitte’s 2011 TMT Global Security Survey, over the past 12 months including “hacktivists,” cyber criminals and state-sponsored actors intent on targeting intellectual property, customer information and increasing business disruption so TMT or technology, media and telecommunications providers should greatly increase their security in 2012 to accommodate the continuous rise in mobile and cyber threats.

“The threats to information have never been at a higher level, and in today’s hyper connected world there is no such thing as an isolated threat. Unfortunately, many TMT organizations are investing a smaller portion of their IT budget than in previous years on information security,” said Irfan Saif, Deloitte’s head of security and privacy services to the TMT industry.

Deloitte is a firm that is part of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), a UK private company limited by guarantee.

Kroll,  a leading risk consulting company, provides a broad range of investigative, intelligence, financial, security, technology and supplier management services to help clients reduce risks, solve problems and capitalize on opportunities, backs this survey with their own study.  They’ve predicted that in 2012, more threats will arise.

“We frequently see organizations with protective measures based on the assumption that they are not a target,” said Alan Brill, senior managing director of the Cyber Security and Information Assurance Division. “Yet 2011 taught us that no one is exempt from attack. Companies need to take a strategic and aggressive approach to cyber security. Ignoring a problem is no guarantee that the problem will ignore you.”

Kroll’s 2012 Security Forecast

1. Mobile security threats will be in all-time high
2. Social media will be a more popular venue for security attacks
3. Small businesses will become targets for security breaches
4. The cloud will also fall victim these security attacks
5. Business and government cooperation will be mission-critical for economic and infrastructure health
6. Privacy concerns will keep geolocation technology in a white-hot spotlight
7. Management and analysis of logs will gain more respect for its role in incident preparedness and response.
8. Incident Response Teams will get a permanent seat at the table when it comes to standard business operations
9. Companies will overlook key vulnerabilities, as regulatory compliance continues to drive organizational security
10. Breach notification laws will gain traction outside of the US. While the U.S. Congress struggles to reach consensus on a federal breach notification law, internationally the idea is gaining momentum

With these alarming reports, businesses, social media, and telecom companies are gearing up to prepare for 2012 security attacks.  Twitter, the microblogging social site, recently bought Whisper Systems, a company that provides security and management solutions for Android devices to make them enterprise-ready, for an undisclosed amount in a move to make their system more secured as more people use sites like Twitter to breach security.

Karsten Nohl, a Berlin hacker and mobile security expert, tested 31 mobile operators in Europe, Morocco and Thailand and found that mobile operators have very weak defenses against security threats.  Nohl also stated that aside from tapping phone conversations and intercepting text messages, hackers can easily access voice mails like he did just by using a technique focused on deciphering predictable, standard electronic “conversations.”  But Nohl stated that mobile operators could easily fix this security flaw found in older 2G networks used by almost every cellphone, including smartphones, with a simple software patch.

According to Nohl’s research,  “only two operators, T-Mobile in Germany and Swisscom in Switzerland, were already using this enhanced security measure, which involves adding a random digit to the end of each set-up command to thwart decoding. (For example, ‘I have a call for you 4,’).”

In Saudi Arabia, F-Secure, a leading global IT security solutions provider, named eXtra, Saudi Arabia’s fastest-growing big box consumer electronics and home appliance retailer, as the “Best Mobile Security Partner in the Middle East.”

eXtra was recognized for their innovation of Jawwaly, a customized package of services that lets users transition from old phones to new phones.  Jawwaly includes  phone setup, data transfer and back-up, installation of applications and operating systems, and ‘Anti Virus’ and ‘Anti Theft’ protection.

Mohammad Galal, chief executive officer, United Electronics Company (eXtra), said: “We are delighted that our commitment to offering innovative value-added services such as Jawwaly have been recognized with this award. From the very beginning, eXtra has been a company founded on innovation and committed to delivering products and services that meet the ever evolving requirements of our valued customers.”

KoolSpan, Inc., a developer of mobile security platforms and hardware, recently acquired the secure mobile applications suite and engineering team from SRA International, Inc.  The acquisition includes SRA’s secure mobile application suite are its One Vault Voice and One Vault Messenger, which were developed by integrating KoolSpan’s TrustChip and TDK technology along with SRA’s engineering team and patents.

KoolSpan CEO Gregg Smith stated, “SRA and KoolSpan have worked together over the last several years to develop the next generation of secure mobile applications. This acquisition will allow KoolSpan to own the technology behind the security solution for the two most fundamental mobile applications—voice and text.”