What Are Mobile Threats?

By Author: Abraham Brown
Total Articles: 6
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It's a common practice for hackers to gain access to our personal information through our computers. There is a new run on security breaches through our mobile phone devices. These mobile threats are wreaking havoc on cell phone users.

Professional hackers are trying out the same tactics that they used on PCs on mobile devices. The protection levels on cell phones are very low making them easy targets. Android phones were the victims of about 5,768 malware assaults over just six months. Right now 99 percent of the current mobile malware focuses on Android phones.

A practice called BYOD, or bring your own device, is described as the practice of an employee bringing their own mobile device, whether it is a tablet, laptop, or Smartphone, to work and using it to get access to privileged company information.

This practice makes it easy for hackers to also gain control of private company information. All they have to do is sit in a vehicle outside of a large company and as the employees come and go they are able to hack into their smart phones and gain access to company files.

Android phones are not the ...
... only ones that are being targeted. With more and more people surfing the web, shopping, and doing their banking transactions on their Smartphone's there is an increase in malware and cybercriminals. Kaspersky, an Internet security software program that protects your PC, found that there are over 35,000 mobile threats directed to Android phones using malicious malware.

Even though Apple has many problems with their iOS systems, Android has had a recent surge taking over more than 70% of the market share. The apps that are easily available and the general free usage of the Android phones have made them an easy target for mobile threats.

Once a hacker can gain access to your mobile device they have programs that look legitimate but they are not. They will ask for your name, address, and phone number and once that is provided they are off and running and gaining access to so much of your private information.

Some of these mobile threats are getting more advanced and more serious. There is a program called Zbot. Once this program gets a customer's username and password, they can get into an online banking system and gain access to personal information through an infected computer. There are other programs that can actually get past the 2-factor authentication procedure that was developed by European banks.

It is clear that everyone has become comfortable using their Smartphone's for more and more things, from getting their emails to checking their bank balance. There is virtually no security in place on a cell phone which alone encourages mobile threats. If you can sit outside and gain access to someone's Internet if they do not have a security code in place, just think what information a hacker can pull together. It's time to be a little more careful with our cell phones in order to counter attack the current trend of mobile threats.

Article Source: http://goarticles.com/article/What-Are-Mobile-Threats/9538726/