We know the ‘PC era’ is replaced by a ‘Smart-phone’ era, when we see almost every hand holding on to a smart-phone these days. The PC sales have persistently nose-dived, ever since the users were introduced to the smart-phones and their advanced capabilities. Smart-phones being less expensive and more convenient when compared to the clunky desktop computers, almost immediately became striking alternatives to access the Internet anywhere, anytime.
However, smart-phone’s rapidly multiplying popularity was and is a sharp contrast to its relatively lax security. This makes the smart-phone user an attractive target for cyber attackers. As per the reports, smart-phones have out sold PCs, and this expanding market of smart-phones is conveniently being exploited by the attackers. They have been merging the old techniques with new tricks to attack the smart mobile devices. Total number of attacks on mobile phones along with the sophistication involved is increasing every day, but the counter-measures to prevent these attacks are slow to catch up.
Smart-phones have enabled its users an instant access to the Internet, e-mail, etc. They are also being used for varied activities like social networking, using online banking services, e-shopping and countless mobile applications. But unlike the conventional computer security which always had firewalls and anti-virus measures regularly updated, the smart-phone security has failed to keep up with the pace. Unfortunately, a majority of smart-phone users fail to understand the consequences of such security shortcomings.
Reasons behind the typical smart-phone cyber attacks
Smart mobile devices happen to share most of the vulnerabilities of PCs. But the lack of suitable security measures and few su...
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... report the incidence of loss or to the local authorities in charge.
Change all the login credentials of corporate networks or social networking sites from the stolen device. This may require you to contact your IT department or
Some mobile service providers also offer the feature of ‘remote wiping’. This allows the smart-phone users to remotely delete all the data stored on your device.
According to security firm Kasperskey Lab, numbers of malicious software that target mobile devices have increased a lot this year. In 2013 alone, nearly 100,000 new malicious programs for mobile devices were detected, which is almost double with the number recorded last year in 2012. As of Jan 2014, the security lab has collected about 143,211 mobile malware samples. These statistics should be alarming enough for all the users to play it safe when using those smart-devices.
In this section we investigate attacks and threats to our primary devices. These attacks and threats are built off of the vulnerabilities the previous section and help to determine which security controls would be most valuable against future attacks.
Protection methods for your mobile phone or smartphone are important to help protect it from attacks. Activate encryption and remote wiping capabilities. Use the same security methods for email and text messages that use the same protocol as computers.
In this micro-study, I will use tools and information available to the public via internet in attempt to hack the iPhone. Currently the iPhone is only sold to subscribers of the AT&T telecommunication service provider and all applications and updates are installed using Apple’s iTunes software. Using various resources I will focus the two main issues which have put Apple and the iPhone user community into the limelight. First, the “unlocking” of the iPhone, which bypasses the iTunes activations process and allows the device to be used on any SIM (Subscriber Information Module) card cellular phone service provider other than AT&T, in this micro-study I will be using a T-Mobile SIM card. Second, I will attempt to “jailbreak” the device, which will allow me to install third-party applications through underground sources and not directly from Apple. As I attempt to hack the iPhone, I will compare drawbacks and benefits of hacking methods, ease of use, and verify Apple’s claims on affecting functionality and possible damag...
[39] Kevin Johnson and Tony DeLaGrange. SANS Institute. SANS Survey on Mobility/BYOD Security Policies and Practices 2012 [Online] Available from: http://www.sans.org/reading-room/analysts-program/SANS-survey-mobility [Accessed 07 Dec 2013]
Sabu M. Thampi, Pradeep K. Atrey, Chun I. Fan, Gregorio Martinez Perez (Eds.), Security in Computing and Communications: International Symposium, SSCC 2013, Mysore, India, August 22-24, 2013. Proceedings (Communications in Computer and Information Science) (p. 418). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Millions of people all around the world are using Smartphones, like iPhones, which turns out to be crucial part of our lives. We are using them not only for calling but we also store unbelievably huge amount of personal information. We have there all our contacts, calls and messages and all our pictures that we save and keep in the phones. A
Many people in today’s society rely on technology to help us with our daily lives and help us stay connected to family, friends, and other people. The advancements in today’s cell phone technology is very complex and made to be efficient for their owners, allowing them to surf the net and IM message people instantly. Cellphones in particular have developed very fast in the past 15 years. From my childhood, cell phones have evolved from the old school Nokia bricks that allowed texts, calls, and simple graphic games, to todays I-Phones that have higher computable capabilities than some computers. In the United States alone, there is an estimated population of around 297 million people, and 197 million people are subscribed to cell phone companies (Starr). With so many people in today’s society with so much power and opportunity in the palm of their hands, we shouldn’t forget that “With great power comes great responsibility” –Voltaire.
With the purchase of a smart phone, does not come the immediate thought that this is a personal tracking device that will let the government or anyone who wants to, know where you are at that exact moment. Timothy Lee wrote “Smartphones Have Privacy Risks” an article letting people know of hackers around the world and how easy it is to get information. This article is an immediate red flag to what information really is protected from other people. The smart phones that we use today are almost exact to what George Orwell wrote about in 1984. In Orwell's book he called these objects telescreens
Mobile devices are being exposed to a record number of security threats with potentially alarming statistics indicating a 400 percent increase in Android malware for example, while Wi-Fi connections are also being increasingly targeted. While the conventional desktop PC will still continue to serve important functions at both consumer and professional levels, there is an expectation that mobile devices will become the predominant form for accessing both personal and professional content it is understandable that cyber criminals have begun focusing on mobile devices which have at the same time grown their user base while substantially consolidating the operating system variants which makes the surface area for a potential attack substantially larger (...
We Chose Mobile Security Risk because we thought it was a really nice area to expand our knowledge in and also expand the knowledge of the person who is or might be read this. This subject was chosen by all of us and decided to start the research straight away to know each other’s knowledge about the Security Risks of Mobile Phones. Another factor which made us choose this was that we all had mobile phones, which we use every day so we that it will pretty easy to find the information but to decipher that information will be hard because there are so many sources to get the information from.
Consider the impact of digital technologies on your daily life. The cell phone is one of many digital devices that have drastically changed people’s lives in a level of connectivity and productivity. You probably use your phone throughout the day to communicate with friends and business associates, look up information on the Web, check your friends’ Facebook statuses, snap photos and post them online, send e-mails, plan your evening, play games, watch movies, and listen to music.
The world today is a result of centuries of evolution; one of the major adaptations is technology, specifically the invention of the smartphone. The smartphone is a cellular phone that has the capabilities of performing similar functions to that of a computer (Oxford Dictionaries’ online dictionary, n.d.). The smartphone is owned by youth for the most part; however, adults and seniors are also turning toward using this device. This in turn demonstrates the popularity of this marvelous device, and is the reason why it is constantly monitored by its users. The continuous evolving of the populations' wants and needs such as communication, searching of information, entertainment and recording, makes owning a smartphone essential, and beneficial as it is portable, reliable and efficient.
Every day of our lives, we watch as technology advances in leaps and bounds, so it was only logical when the cell phone came into existence, it would also be necessary to develop ways for a phone to be more than just a phone. With the explosion of the internet age people needed a way to bring their computers on the go, one that could fit in the palm of their hand. Whether it be checking emails, updating social networks or even playing games, smartphones seem to do it all. There is, however, a dark side to every technological advance that is made, to everything that makes our lives more convenient. Smartphones are not only an enormous distraction in our lives but are also known to cause health problems in those
mobile phone viruses began to emerge, the first mobile phone virus was called Caribe, it was created to infect the Symbian mobile OS. By using the Bluetooth communication feature it was able to spread from phone to phone and upon activation of the device it would display the message "Caribe". In 2009 the first iPhone worm "Ikee" was created it was able to infect and spread among jailbroken iPhones that had installed SSH while using the default root password. This worm changes the wallpaper of your lock screen to a photo of Rick Astley with the message: "ikee is never going to give you up.” As of 2011, it 's reported that as much as 73,000 malware strains are written every day. Considering that mobile smart phones have slowly been replacing our PC’s daily to do task, we are more at risk now that these malwares are being increasingly written for mobile phones. Just look at history and what occurred with PCs: It may have started as a practical joke, but soon after users started putting more increasingly personal information it slowly turned from a joke into a more malicious purpose. History always repeats itself and it will be no different with smartphones and with this growing issue we need to be ready to increase our mobile security.
Since the invention of the cell phones, in 1973, it has quickly become the most popular device used especially today during the twenty-first century. Due to its hands-free-easy-to-use design, the amount of people that own a cell phone is rapidly increasing. The useful text messaging feature has proved to be extremely useful in current times. Along with these helpful features, the cell phone is easily accessible and more portable. The majority of phone companies offer a 3G or 4G data plan, meaning internet access can be found on your phone almost anywhere, at any time. In addition to its easy portability, the cell phone is a very useful and helpful device, allowing one to stay connected to the outer world. “With a smartphone, you can connect to the Web from virtually anywhere. You ...