Mobile phones have become an integral part of everbody's life and the mobile phone has transformed from being a luxury to a bare necessity. Increase in the purchasing power and availability of numerous low cost handsets have also lead to an increase in mobile phone users. Theft of mobile phones has risen dramatically over the past few years. Since huge section of working population in India use public transport, major locations where theft occurs are bus stops, railway stations and traffic signals. Many Insurance Companies have stopped offering Mobile Theft Insurance due to a large number of false claims. When anyone looses his/her mobile phone, more than anything "Contact List" and "Personally Identifiable Information (PII)", that really matter, are lost.

One might have just thought that his/her cell phone is much safer than a PC that is very often attacked by viruses; however, criminals made this thought as false statement. After PC, the criminals' (i.e., attackers) new playground has been cell phones,reason being the increasing usage of cell phones and availability of Internet using cell phones. Another reason is increasing demand for Wi-Fi zones in the metropolitans and extensive usage of cell phones in the youths with lack of awareness/knowledge about the vulnerabilities of the technology.

The following factors contribute for outbreaks on mobile devices:

1. Enough target terminals: The first Palm OS virus was seen after the number of Palm OS devices reached 15 million. The first instance of a mobile virus was observed during June 2004 when it was discovered that an organization "Ojam" had engineered an antipiracy Trojan virus in older versions of their mobile phone game known as Mosquito. This virus sent SMS text messages to the organization without the users' knowledge.

2. Enough functionality: Mobile devices are increasingly being equipped with office functionality and already carry critical data and applications, which are often protected insufficiently or not at all. The expanded functionality also increases the probability of malware.

3. Enough connectivity: Smartphones offer multiple communication options, such as SMS, MMS, synchronization, Bluetooth, infrared (IR) and WLAN connections. Therefore, unfortunately, the increased amount of freedom also offers more choices for virus writers.