In a new report, security firm McAfee says that mobile phones are likely to be the target of malicious attacks in 2011, noting that the year ahead could be "a turning point for threats to mobile devices."

In its 2011 Threats Predictions report, McAfee Labs says that the threats landscape has "changed considerably in the past year," specifically noting that it has seen "significant changes in the types of threats that aim at Apple iPhones and other mobile devices."

But McAfee notes that mobile devices have not yet become a primary target for hackers and virus writers, saying "we expect attacks [to mobile devices] to erupt at any time, yet they never quite seem to happen. Nonetheless, McAfee Labs predicts that 2011 will be a turning point for threats to mobile devices," with both corporate and user data facing "serious risks."