Our mobile phones have become important parts of our lives to the extent that we have trusted them with our very lives. We have bank accounts, health data, our directions to work and our planners on our phones.
Currently, the average user has more sensitive data on their phone than on their computer. For this reason, most hackers have focused on targeting mobile phones than computers as the later are worth more. There are currently many mobile threats ready to take sensitive information from your device and thus the need to stay secure.
As a user, there are various reasons why you should take mobile security seriously.
They include:
More focus by hackers on mobile gadgets
A single hack on a mobile phone will yield so much more than the same hack on a computer. For this reason, hackers have chosen to place their focus on the mobile world where their time will be worth much more. If one does not take care of their mobile security, a hacker will find a way of stealing your personal data and use them to impersonate you.
Increasing threats on the mobile frontier
In the recent past, there has been an increasing number of threats to the mobile frontier. For example, threats such as Freak, Masque, CORED, Stagefright, Wirelurker, YiSpecter and many others have made headlines breaking into thousands of mobile phones.
Most people nowadays store their data in online accounts such as Google Drive, Apple iCloud, Box and many other. If a hacker can access any one of these services, they are sure to access the rest of the data they need to fully impersonate another person. The lethal nature of these attacks makes the issue of mobile security a vital one.
The nature of the attacks keeps getting complex
As criminals realize that more important data is being stored on mobile devices, their methods are getting more complex. For example, rather than simply stealing the data of isolated individuals who have little data, they have chosen to go for the people with more data.
Doctors of today carry the information about their patients on their devices. This information includes their names, email addresses, phone numbers and financial data. Hacking such a person is this more valuable than hacking a thousand people randomly. Also, rather than hacking and making away with the data in a single hack, they have chosen to plant malware that steals the data on a continuous basis.
Businesses lose data mostly through mobile phones
Since companies issue data through their employees, it had become an increasing threat to have the data stolen by hackers.
Staying Safe
One way to stay safe is by using security software such as antivirus and anti-malware programs. Also, always make sure that a device is running the latest system updates as they often have security patches. Lastly, the use of two-factor verification has many benefits for mobile devices as they notify the user of any attempts made on their data.
In addition, you should be using VPN while using mobile Wi-fi at cafes or other hotspots. If you aren’t using a VPN on your phone, you could have all of your data spied on by spy agencies across the world.
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