Securing mobile devices: malware mitigation methods

Malware on mobile handsets has always been a point of concern for its users. With the widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets and the emergence of centralized application markets it started to represent a significant threat. This situation has led to the development of defence methods for securing mobile devices coming from operating system developers, antivirus vendors and security researchers. In this paper we focus on the solutions proposed by security researchers which include both methods inherited from malware detection on personal computers and new methods specific to mobile device environment. This paper gives an overview of the history and development of mobile malware and provides a survey of the methods proposed for malware mitigation on mobile devices in the last years.