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November 10, 2009, 01:07 PM ET
Improving Mobile-Device Security
As mobile phones begin functioning more like minicomputers, they also take on more security risks.
That's why the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently received a $450,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to work toward developing safer mobile devices and telecommunication networks that serve such devices. The project's researchers hope to protect mobile devices from viruses and malware that can steal personal information.
“Since mobile phones typically lack security features found on desktop computers, such as antivirus software, we need to accept that the mobile devices will ultimately be successfully attacked," said Jonathon Giffin, an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science, in a news release. "Therefore our research focus is to develop effective attack-recovery strategies.”
First, the researchers want to find out if cellular-service providers like AT&T and Verizon are capable of locating infected devices. The researchers believe providers could accomplish that by monitoring devices to see if any are sending a high volume of traffic to known malicious Internet servers.
The researchers also want to develop repair methods that can allow service providers to cure infected phones remotely.
To test their methods, the researchers are building a cellular-network test bed at Georgia Tech.
Comments
1. allens - November 11, 2009 at 11:43 am
I'm having difficulty seeing how this could be done with network neutrality, which is really needed for cellphones.
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