Gordon Snow: Cyber Attacks on Mobile Devices to Climb
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The FBI expects cyber attacks on smartphones and tablet computers to increase in the near future, a top FBI official said, according to AOL.
Gordon Snow, assistant director in charge of its cyber division, told listeners at the GovSec conference in Washington on April 3 that the increase will likely come as more mobile devices hit the market and hands of users.
Snow estimated that the number of mobile devices will outnumber the total world population.
Snow also said the bureau is expecting an increased amount of attacks on public safety network infrastructure.
Increased cyber threats have led the FBI to re-arrange its overall structure, deploying more than 1,000 cyber specialists in each of its 56 U.S. based offices.
The FBI has also placed cyber specialists overseas in countries including Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, and the Netherlands.
The bureau has also established a national cyber investigation joint task force.
Snow said the bureau has to shift from protecting systems to protecting information.
In December 2011, McAfee Labs released its annual 2012 cyber threats prediction report and listed mobile devices as among the top targets.