Commenting on recent mobile data breaches and Smartphone security issues, Andy Morris, Business Development Director at Lifestyle Services Group, said:  "With the rapid growth of smartphones, it is not surprising that data breaches are now occurring on handheld gadgets.

"Our research shows that consumer awareness of smartphone security is surprisingly low, at less than nine per cent, especially when compared to security on PCs and laptops. Manufacturers, software developers, the operating platforms, networks and each individual user all have a part to play in improving the data security on smartphones.

"Malware attacks on Android devices have reportedly increased by nearly 500% in just three months within 2011 according to Juniper Research, and there are now more than 6,500 new viruses being released everyday.  As an industry we must do more to help protect consumers’ data and make them feel safer when using their smartphone for more secure activity such as mobile payments and transactions.

"Lifestyle Services Group has recently set-up an exclusive arrangement with Identity Intelligence which provides insight into personal data collected and traded by criminal organisations. The database currently stands at over 700 million individual records throughout the world and is due for launch later this year to support smartphone security.”