Orange has signed up Finnish anti-virus firm F-Secure to provide security for its users’ smartphones, arguing that the threat of mobile malware will increase over the coming years.F-Secure currently lists over 200 virus variants targeting smartphones, although all require that the user takes some kind of direct action themselves to install the virus. Orange said that it has encountered 2,100 virus cases across its network in May, and thinks it reasonable to have a solution in place before viruses become a serious problem. Notification about the new £1.50 a month service will appear on Orange World and on the Orange website.Some industry watchers are less enthusiastic about the deal. Here’s Simon Perry, VP Security EMEA at CA, who feels that “the only company who is convinced there is a threat is the Finnish antivirus firm F-Secure, which has single-handedly invented and hyped the notion that smartphones are now assaulted by various malicious code threats.”
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