Phone companies and service providers are scrambling to block mobile malware. Jan Volzke, an executive at McAfee, says some mobile-phone companies now implant virus protection directly in handsets–but adds that the vast majority of users remain vulnerable. Some 30 million devices are protected, he says, but there are 2.6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. No stand-alone antivirus software is currently available to consumers. Experts say the most important protection may be caution–not opening odd-looking text messages, for starters. But most people remain unaware there’s a threat. “Anything that abuses this naiveté could really hit big time,” says Volzke.
