Infographic: Why mobile security matters

Based on some pretty interesting facts about mobile in general, this infographic is even more relevant. The smartphone segment has brought accessibility to millions around the world, at work and at home. Naturally, all the data in those devices, wirelessly accessible, becomes a gold mine for those with nefarious motives to exploit.

On the work front, smartphones are a huge contributor to productivity. At home, they provide meaningful and useful (and sometimes redundant) ways to stay in touch with friends and family. The more of these devices we buy, the bigger the opportunity is for criminals, because there are so many ways to get the data.  We might lose a device, or its is stolen, we might download a bad application, or soon brush against an NFC tag or visit a bad web-page.  The possibilities are so diverse compared to a PC or server farm hardwired to the internet. 

With the tremendous growth of the smartphone market not expected to slow down anytime soon, people and organizations must be vigilant in guarding against breaches of their data and/or personal information. Even as organized hackers work on ways to score the high-value breach, they are working on high-volume, low-risk attacks against weaker targets as well.

In addition to some tips about securing mobile devices, the infographic has some interesting facts from 2011 in there as well, such as 855 breaches resulted in the theft of 174 million records.

sources: Veracode via Mashable, Verizon