Sophos has released Sophos Security Threat Monitor, a new, free application for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices, containing security news and the latest information about the most prevalent viruses, worms, spyware, and malware.

"People are spending less and less time chained to their desks, and an app like this gives users access to the very latest security information, wherever they are," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, in a statement.

The application, with information updated hourly, offers multiple views.

The threat spotlight is "a dynamic list of the latest top-10 threats analyzed by the experts in SophosLabs, providing detailed information on their prevalence and a helpful link to further details on the Sophos Web site," said Cluley. The listing also includes details of which systems the threat affects, and mitigation strategies.

A threats view shows the top 10 most prevalent threats, as determined by SophosLabs. Information includes category -- such as Trojan, virus, or spyware -- as well as type, who's affected, first date of detection, and prevalence. Users can also click a link to see more information on the Sophos Web site.

For full-color pie chart aficionados, the stats view displays the top e-mail malware threats, the top spam-relaying continents -- with Europe currently in the lead, followed by Asia and North America -- as well as the top Web-based malware threats.

Finally, the maps view overlays e-mail, spam, and Web threats on Google Maps, providing a zoomable look at where the latest threats are appearing, as well as the subject lines being used by spammers. For example, a spam message with the subject line "Mail for cyclonoscope, -70%" recently began circulating near Rio de Janeiro.

Sophos Security Threat Monitor -- compatible with iPod OS version 3.0 and later -- is available via free download from the iTunes App Store.

Based on demand, Sophos said it may create versions of the application for Android, BlackBerry, Palm Web OS, or specifically for the iPad.