An anticipated upsurge in smartphone hacking will present a real
challenge for businesses in 2012 but businesses can do more to prevent
unauthorised access to important information, according to University of
Ulster academic and internet security expert, Dr Kevin Curran.
Dr
Curran, who is a reader in the School of Computing and Intelligent
Systems at Magee and Senior Member of the IEEE - the world's largest
technical professional association - says simple steps like creating
strong secure passwords and updating phone software can help guarantee
security ofbusiness and personal information.
He says that people
are generally aware of the cyber-security threatsassociated with PCs and
laptops but don't see their smartphones as computers and subject to the
same threats.
"With more people using the same phone for
business and personal reasons,the upsurge in smartphone hacking presents
a real issue for businesses aswell as consumers. A company can have all
appropriate firewalls in place,but it takes just one employee to
download malware onto their phone. In fact, with more senior employees
using phones for work, it is likely to be top executives who are
exposing businesses to vulnerabilities.
"Smartphone users
represent approximately 20 percent of the mobile marke so expect to see
an explosion in smartphone attacks, both by technical experts and by
novices buying tools from 'dark' websites and conducting low-tech but
effective scams. It only takes a couple seconds to steal personal
information but it can have a devastating impact.
According
to Curran, a 'trusted app' approach is needed to combat hackers,
something he hopes can be in place by 2013 – but he expects that the
upsurge in hacking via mobile phones may prompt the industry and
governments to act sooner.
All smartphones - phones with
full HTML internet browser and e-mail capabilities - are vulnerable to
hacking but some are more vulnerable than others, says Curran.
He
explains that Android phones are a specific type of smartphone which use
an operating system designed by Google to compete against Aople's
iPhone and RiM's Blackberry.
A recent study "The Most Vulnerable
Smartphones of 2011," (Bit9's November21), claims that more than half
of the Android phones in the marketplace today are running out-of-date
and insecure versions of the Android operating system – which make them
easy prey for hackers.
"Carriers are more focused on the
latest version of the phone than on providing security updates for older
models – and this increases their vulnerability to hacking," said Dr
Curran.
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