The popularity of Mobile Banking Worms

I found Twitter to be one of the best sources of information. I am constantly logged into the service (either by means of my PC or iPhone). One of the streams that I track is a search on the keyword "mobile banking".

On the 24th of November the Twitter search stream filled up with the following news item: "New Worm Attacks iPhones, Targets Mobile Banking ". I think that this Tweet was re-tweeted probably hundred times. In reading the associated press (here), it is clear that this is probably a no-event. The attack focused on clients of ING in the Netherlands and only if the subscriber's iPhone has been jailbroken. The target community for this attack is probably less than ten phones.

So why is it that people find this article so interesting. I believe it is because of the following reasons:
  • Anything related to an iPhone is news
  • The potential risk associated with remote banking is always interesting. It seems that security and how it can be penetrated is always newsworthy.
  • And then, could it be that mobile banking is also of sufficient interest that people want to hear about it.