PROBLEM
Mobile malware is simply malware on a mobile device, and typically, on a smartphone. There is not a lot of mobile malware today. That is not because it is hard to write, but because malware writers write for common platforms to increase their yield. Smartphones still represent a tiny portion of the computer market. However, industry estimates indicate that in 2012, there will be more smartphones in the world than Windows machines. That means malware writers will start to target these devices.
Mobile malware increasingly relies on cross-platform exploits, so even if the mobile market remains fragmented, it is very likely that we will see a dramatic increase in mobile malware. Mobile malware will also be propelled by the trend in mobile payments – it makes it easy for malware authors to cash in from successful infections. There are estimates that by 2010, 35% of online banking households will be using mobile banking, up from less than 1% today.
At the same time, mobile devices have limited battery resources, which complicates malware countermeasures. You do not want your phone to run computationally intensive Anti-Virus software constantly in the background, or you know that your batteries will not last long. The traditional Anti-Virus paradigm is computationally intensive. Ours is not.