Technology can only go so far when addressing security threats and, what's more, these threats are becoming increasingly mobile. This was the message from the recent three-day ITWeb Security Summit 2008, held in Midrand, it was attended by, among others, some of the world's top hackers, including John Ellch (co-author of Hacking Exposed Wireless), Johnny Long (author of Google Hacking for Penetration Testers) and Roberto Preatoni (strategic director of WabiSabiLabi).

The general theme running through these speakers' presentations was that mobile was going to be the next big playing field for security threats. Howard Schmidt, president and CEO of R&H Security Consulting, said mobile devices and applications are the next logical place to go for the next generation of destructive activity. Schmidt is a former White House cyber security advisor. "As we become more dependent on our mobile devices, we'll become more vulnerable to attacks. A new generation of mobile applications that are easy to use and financially viable are being developed. But who is looking after the security of these applications? Who is developing anti-virus software and encryption? Not many people are doing it," he warned.