Mobile Security has become a prime concern for IT professionals working for enterprise businesses. The reason, businesses are turning less vigilant when it comes to mobile security while embracing the trend of BYOD.
Very recently, Chris Crowley, a security instructor working for SANS Institute offered a rundown on the top mobile security threats lurking behind the BYOD trend. And those are listed below-
Devices are not trustworthy anymore- These days manufacturers are coming up with devices which may be faulty or maliciously configured. And they may have their own reasons to do so. But it is a pure violation of Confidentiality, integrity, and availability. For instance, recently Samsung company was accused of embedding spying beacons on all its mobile phones in order to keep a track of the mobile phone user activity at every step. So, isn’t that a privacy invasion…?
Malicious apps- Nowadays, Google Play Store and Apple iStore are filled with apps which promise to perform one task, but end up in doing other( mainly spying). Security software offering company CheckPoint disclosed this vulnerability when its researchers discovered malware s such as “ JUDY” on some of the apps hosted on Google Play store. The malware at first infects devices and then uses the infected phone to generate larger amounts of fraudulent clicks on ads, generating revenues of black hat marketing companies. In 2015, Palo Alto discovered a malware called YiSpecter which abuses private APIs in the iOS ecosystem to implement malicious functionalities.
Apps leaking unwanted info- The third threat for mobile security happens to come from apps which leak unwanted info such as extraction of contacts from a phone user and sending it to a remote server- Truecaller and WhatsApp do this in reality. What if the info falls into the wrong hands by some means….?
Banking Malware- As the trend for mobile banking has picked up around the world, hackers are eyeing these banking tools as a revenue generating mediums. Cyber criminals are using phishing windows to overlap banking apps and steal credentials from mobile banking customers.
Mobile Ransomware- The said malware has turned into a big threat to the trend of digitalization these days. Technically speaking the malware blocks access to the data hosted on the device until a ransom is paid to the hacker/developer. And as per a research carried out by Kaspersky Labs, around 70,000 Android phones get infected by mobile ransomware each year and the infection rate is picking at an annual rate of 20% on an annual note.
So, how to defend the devices from the said mobile security….?
Its simple, just follow what SANS Institute has listed below and kept your mobile devices safe from alluring cyber threats.
A.) Enforce device passcode authentication
b.) Use an anti-malware solution on your mobile device
c.) Keep your mobile device software updated
d.) Do not download apps from third party platforms such as search engines
e.) Control physical access to device
f.) Ensure application security is compliant
g.) Better to have an incident response team for lost or stolen mobile devices
