Can Cell Phones compromise the network?

We insist on being connected. Many executives carry smartphones -- mobile devices that do more than just store phone numbers. In the past year, sales of smartphones have exploded. During the third quarter of 2005 alone, 12.6 million smartphones were shipped worldwide, more than triple the number from a year earlier.

As our appetite for mobile devices increases, so too does the interest of malware writers. In early March, a new virus became the first to automatically infect a mobile phone from a PC upon connection. Crossover, so named for its ability to jump from one type of device to another, exploited a vulnerability in Microsoft's (MSFT ) ActiveSync, a program that synchronizes Windows Smartphones with PCs.

Crossover was created as a so-called proof-of-concept virus by a security researcher to demonstrate its feasibility. And it foreshadows a paradigm shift ahead. Prior to Crossover, we only had to worry about not losing our cell phones or laptops in order to protect our data. Now, it is only a matter of time before malware writers actively target our growing dependence upon mobile devices.