As news that the Symbian Foundation has admitted it needs better safeguards to prevent malicious apps finding their way onto mobiles,

Fortify Software predicts this problem is going to get worse for mobile phone manufacturers and their operating system developers.

"The problem with mobile phones is that their processing capacity is increasing at a near-exponential rate, with some of the latest smartphones the technological equivalent of the PCs seen in the early part of this decade," said Richard Kirk, director of the application vulnerability specialist.

"And whilst the power of the average smartphone has soared on the last few years, the behind-the-scenes technology and security assurance practices required to prevent any security loopholes in the operating system and/or applications is not as up to speed as it is on the desktop/laptop platforms," he added.

Because of this, hackers and malware developers are now turning their attentions to the microcomputer many of us have in our pockets - the smartphone.

Editor's Note:  And the rush to bring a mobile payment platform that is "convenient" and "easy to use" will be a gold mine to hackers.  A goldmine I say!