Smart hacking

Software security experts warn that mobile phones are tempting targets for hackers in a world where people eagerly invite strange applications onto handsets packed with personal data.

Software security experts warn that mobile phones are tempting targets for hackers in a world where people eagerly invite strange applications onto handsets packed with personal data.

Briefings at a Black Hat computer security conference were devoted to threats to smartphones, mobile personal computers used for anything from banking and shopping to pinpointing people's whereabouts.

"Right now, it is one of the hottest topics there is," said John Hering, founder and chief executive of Lookout Mobile Security. Smartphone owners are seldom far from their handsets, which they trust with passwords, telephone numbers, Internet browsing, banking, shopping, navigating, and more.

"Users are downloading apps at a furious pace and, generally, have not been thinking about security," Hering said. It is these apps that offer hackers Trojan Horses in which to slip malicious code.