The study, from AdaptiveMobile, says that the shift towards a new and more sophisticated type of threat facing mobile subscribers and network operators – the 'compound threat' as it calls it – involves the use of multiple attack vectors.
These vectors – text messages, picture messages, email, web traffic and even voice – are designed to compromise different aspects of a handset simultaneously.
The report notes that the threats are built with the main aim of extracting money, and a secondary knock-on effect for the mobile networks of damaged reputations plus a loss of trust.
And with mobile users hitting the five billion mark worldwide, the report says that cybercriminals – who are usually part of highly organised global gangs – are shifting their focus away from traditional PC-based scams towards mobile users.
The study, AdaptiveMobile's 2011 Global Security Insights in Mobile report, says that smartphone penetration is 20% globally and is expected to hit 37% in Europe and 44% in the US by the end of next year.
The four main threats facing smartphone users, says the report, are advanced mobile malware, converged messaging spam, IP reputation and credit attacks.
Gareth Maclachlan, AdaptiveMobile's CEO, said that, over the last year, more than any other, viruses and privacy concerns have hit the headlines.
"However there's still a lot of confusion amongst consumer and enterprise subscribers as to where the real threats lie and what can be done to combat them – particularly as the threats and handsets are becoming more sophisticated and therefore complex", he said.