A study by AVG Technologies, a provider of consumer security software, provided some surprising insights into how U.S. consumers view mobile phone security. The study, released at this year's CTIA Wireless Conference in Orlando, Fla., shows that most U.S. consumers are largely unaware of security threats to data stored on mobile phones.

In an interview at CTIA, AVG CEO J.R. Smith said about mobile phone security, "People are pretty indifferent."

"It's amazing how many people have purchased something with their phones, and how many don't even check their bills," Smith said. "Even if someone was using their information or they have premium SMS messages or some kind of malware, over 50 percent don't even check their phone bill."

He went on to say that almost a third of respondents already store credit card data and usernames and passwords on their devices.

Some additional findings of the study also are eye-opening:

• 89 percent of respondents were unaware that applications on their phones can transmit confidential data, such as credit card information, without the user's knowledge or consent.
• 91 percent of respondents were unaware that malware can infect financial applications on smartphones to steal information, even though 29 percent of respondents said they already store such data on their phones.
• 56 percent of respondents did not know that failing to log off from social network applications could allow someone to change or manipulate personal settings and access private data.

Smith said that interest in AVG's mobile phone security product has been growing, with more than 9 million consumers installing the company's application to date, calling the increase in interest is a good sign.

"People are becoming more and more aware every day, so there is awareness. But it just goes back to the fact that people are indifferent," he said.

Getting people to install security software is an important step, as is raising awareness, Smith said, adding that making it as easy as possible to secure mobile phones is an important part of the process as well.

"Most people are convenience driven," he said.

The AVG study was conducted by the Ponemon Institute. The survey included 734 randomly selected consumers over the age of 18 in the United States.