McAfee is making security predictions for 2011. The firm outlines its top threats for next year in the 2011 Threat Predictions report — and Android, iPhone, Foursquare, Google TV, and Mac OS X are listed as major cybercrime targets. Politically motivated attacks are also expected to increase, a la WikiLeaks.
“We’ve seen significant advancements in device and social-network adoption, placing a bullseye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. “These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we’re already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss.”
Social-Media Threats
Social-media threats are nothing new, but expect to see more of them next year. McAfee Labs expects social-media services that use URL shortening will be under attack because its easier for cybercriminals to mask the full URL and direct users to malicious web sites.
Then there’s geolocation services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places. In just a few clicks, cybercriminals can see in real time who is tweeting, where they are located, what they are saying, what their interests are, and what operating systems and applications they are using. That opens the door to targeted attacks.
On the mobile front, McAfee predicts the widespread adoption of mobile devices in business environments, combined with a historically fragile cellular infrastructure and slow strides toward encryption, will bring a rapid escalation of attacks and threats to mobile devices, putting user and corporate data at very high risk.
Apple No Longer Immune
Historically, the Mac OS platform has remained relatively unscathed by malicious attackers, but McAfee Labs warns that Mac-targeted malware will continue to increase in sophistication in 2011. The popularity of iPads and iPhones in business environments, combined with the lack of user understanding of proper security for these…