Phishers Ramp Up Attacks on Anyone with a Mobile Device
It’s not entirely surprising that more than eight-hundred million mobile devices were sold in 2012; it’s rare to find someone in most countries without one on their person at all times. What’s more impressive is that forty million downloads have been made from Apple’s App Store, and half of them were made just in the last year.
Many received their new smartphones and tablets during the recent holiday season, and a frightening number of users saw, or sadly didn't see, a phishing attempt made by hackers from a number of countries worldwide. Nearly twenty thousand phishing sites have been made to trick users into believing they were on Paypal. The number of sites targeting PayPal is higher than the number of phishing websites created for the rest of the top ten most frequently phished banking and payment sites combined.
Phishing by definition is “the act of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details (and sometimes, indirectly, money) by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication." What do phishers love to exploit more than anything? You guessed it—apps.
NECN recently reported on the holiday season and the current wave of attacks. The rapid increase in the number of devices in use, especially by vulnerable children who have access to mobile devices at a younger age than any previous generation, helps explain it.
If the numbers of malware and phishing attempts aren’t expected to ever decline, what can be done to combat them? Many are calling for greater security measures made by device manufacturers, but it’s the behaviors and street smarts of consumers that really need to improve.
Mobile devices have a slew of security issues that their users need to be aware of, starting with the number of apps and downloads that are done through the two biggest marketplaces, Apple’s App Store and Android’s Google Play store. Adolescents who are using either their own or a parent’s phone often download apps from unknown third parties simply because the apps look fun.
As banking and touchless payment options steadily increase globally, the opportunities for phishing your personal information, even if you think you’re doing nothing wrong, are always going to be there. It’s up to you to be savvy enough to avoid them.
Symantec put together this seemingly lighthearted video that’s actually full of things that millions of people who fall victim to phishing attempts take for granted everyday.
Have you ever fallen victim to a phishing attempt on your mobile device? Do you know any tips or tricks for spotting them that were not covered here? Please share them in the comments section below!
