Kaspersky in talks with local telco for mobile antivirus rollout

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA - Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab AO revealed on Friday that they were in initial talks with a Philippine telecommunication company for a possible partnership, which could include the rollout of antivirus products for mobile phones.

In a sit-down interview, Kaspersky Managing Director for Asia Pacific Stephan Neumeier told GMA News Online that the talks with the local telco provider had been going on for several months.

"Hopefully, pretty soon, you will see an announcement that we have signed one of the Philippine telcos to support our xSP business, the mobile business," Neumeier explained.

The Kaspersky xSP is a subscription-based product which gives subscribers of a telco access to several of the firm's anti-virus products.

Neumeier declined to identify the local telco player they were negotiating with, citing that details of the possible arrangement had yet to be finalized.

He said, however, that the company hopes that the partnership - under a two-year plan - would likely be inked within the year.

"Based on that, we will make discussions and we will make decisions on who covers what part. So it's quite a long negotiation and it started already a couple of months ago," he elaborated.

Most mobile phones are now vulnerable to malware attacks, such as the Roaming Mantis - a virus designed to steal user information, including credentials, for financial gain.

Findings by Kaspersky Lab show that the threat works through hijacking domain name servers (DNS). It has since evolved, and now includes Tagalog as one of its languages.

"They try to use scam delivery. They are rapidly evolving and they change," Suguru Ishimaru, security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, said in a separate interview.

Ishimaru said mobile phone users, especially subscribers in the Philippines, needed to be advised against engaging with third-party installation applications.

"I suggest that security products are very important. Save your private [information], save your business. Anybody who has a pc and mobile devices [can be attacked]," Ishimaru warned. — DVM, GMA News