Lookout, Verizon team up for mobile protection

Lookout Mobile Security and Verizon announced at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, on Wednesday that Lookout technology would be used to scan applications in Verizon's mobile storefront.

Todd Murphy, director of business development at Verizon, said using Lookout with provide assurances "that apps in this store are being checked for malware, viruses and other potential security threats on an ongoing basis."

Lookout's Mobile Threat Network scans and analyzes applications in real-time for signs of malware.

"We've seen an opportunity to take the technology that we've used for our own user base and actually extend that into other parts of the mobile ecosystem, the first being app stores and the first being with Verizon," Lookout co-founder and chief executive John Hering said.

Lookout currently has 10 million users in 170 countries and is adding nearly one million users a month, Hering said.

"People realize there are threats on their computers but they are just starting to realize that their phones and tablets are actually computers," Hering said.

"There's an inherent trust that people put in their phones and the app store experience," he said. "We're seeing more and more that trust is beginning to be violated."

Hering said scammers will take legitimate application, like a game, "and then package bad code into the app and republish it in the app store.

"You may download an app that you know and trust but it's actually downloading your personal information," he said.

(c) 2011 AFP