Anyone who’s responsible for guarding company assets — both physical and digital — needs to know where criminals are aiming the cross hairs. According to the latest Cisco security report, that would be

mobile devices.

The systems giant just released its 2010 Annual Security report which predicts a major cybercrime turning point.

Scammers, says the report,  have begun shifting their focus away from Windows-based PCs to other operating systems and platforms, including smart phones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms in generally

The report also finds that 2010 was the first year in the history of the Internet that spam volume decreased, that cybercriminals are investing heavily in “money muling,” and that users continue to fall prey to wide variety of tricks.

In response to the last decade of cyber-exploits targeting Windows-based operating systems, PC platform and application vendors have beefed up security for their products and taken a more aggressive approach to patching vulnerabilities. As a result, scammers are finding it harder to exploit those platforms t and are looking elsewhere to make money.

Along with this is the big boom in the use of mobile devices and applications. Third-party mobile applications in particular are emerging as a serious threat

Says Patrick Peterson of Cisco: “Everyone knows the joke about the two hikers and the hungry bear in which the swifter hiker explains his footrace is not against the bear but the other hiker. The cybercriminal bears have been feasting on the “slowest hiker” Windows platform for the last decade. But with increased security in the Windows operating system and applications, the bears are looking elsewhere to satisfy their hunger. Mobile and emerging operating systems are hikers that the bears have largely ignored until now, but they are beginning to look much more appealing. These bears are also finding opportunities in the explosion in mobile-device usage, where we’re seeing a growing number of exploits aimed specifically at mobile users.”

Now’s the time for IT to look carefully at its security strategy for both new platforms and mobile devices that are being used to access networks. Getting out ahead of the scammers may mean investing some time and resources, but the payoff could be substantial.

Tags: 2010, Cisco, mobile devices, report, security, threats