With the smartphone industry growing every day, there is a growing concern for data security on mobile devices. The power of these devices is always increasing, as is the amount of software that can be installed on them. With the advent of these different software types, including financial and personal identification software, more protection is needed.
Most of these devices have built-in security, but is this enough for today’s world? Most people nowadays spend their whole lives on their smartphones. It includes a plethora of personal information and data, such as personal/work documents, notes, pictures, and emails that can contain sensitive information
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Full access to Wi-Fi networks that you connect to at work or home calendar appointments and contacts access to various sites/information through apps, such as social networking apps, bill paying apps, movie apps, shopping apps, etc
All this information on our smartphones makes it a goldmine for potential thieves. The risk of your phone being lost, stolen, or even rummaged through by your IT guy is only half the security problem with them. When connected to open Wi-Fi networks, smartphones can also leak other kinds of data by sniffing your internet traffic.
Your passwords to unencrypted websites and services, such as Facebook, Twitter, web-based email sites, POP3 email services, etc., could easily be sniffed by someone else on the network. There is also the issue of viruses, malware, SMS/MMS exploits, and Bluetooth exploits; these exploits can manipulate your phone settings and prevent you from using certain features, sending information to or calling contacts in your phone, stealing and destroying personal data on your phone, or render your phone completely unusable.
Though the biggest concerns, for now, should be more focused on protecting your phone from theft, loss, or sniffing over Wi-Fi, malicious software and hacking are becoming increasingly prevalent daily. These issues could become more of a concern in the future due to our phones’ lack of integrated active security systems, such as firewalls, anti-virus programs, and anti-malware programs.
To provide some background on securing your mobile phone, Juniper Networks studied more than 6,000 smartphone and tablet users in 16 countries about mobile security threats. They found the following: a 250% increase in the amount of mobile malware over the past year. A Fortune 15 company discovered that 1,250 of its 25,000 devices were infected with malware; 44% of respondents to the survey use their devices for both business and personal use, and 80% admit to using their devices to access their work network without the employer’s knowledge or permission.
