Remote working has spiked the need for smartphones which resulted in increasing cyberattacks

As the years' pass, people are highly getting attracted to smartphones. They are turning to be a part of everyone's life starting from middle school students to old aged people. Without mobile for a day is like a century to a lot of us. However, the part where we care about security on mobile phones is not so assuring.

Smartphones are not just gateways to connectivity. They are everything today. Mobiles act as banking systems, shopping sources, food deliverers, entertainment platforms, etc. According to NortonLifeLock Digital Wellness Report 2019, access to cheaper data makes smartphones the primary sources of entertainment in Tier 1 cities. Checking phones constantly has turned out to be a routine at cities. Taking a long metro ride or stuck in traffic are some of the instances when people spend their time scrolling feeds. With facilities given at fingertip, the issue of cyberattacks arises. This gives cybercriminals the ability to access personal and private data more easily than before.

The remote working has spiked the need for mobile phones. The Covid-19 pandemic is pushing people to be glued to their mobile phones in order to stay connected to their colleagues, family and friends. Ultimately, computers and laptops are more secure than mobiles. They are installed with assuring anti-virus system which stalls cybercriminals from invading private details. But mobile phones are brittle to the issue as they are connected to the internet and track user activity and data to go. Cybercriminals are attracted to weak spots on mobile like auto-saved transaction details on the smartphone, including UPI ID, passwords and PINs making consumers vulnerable to scams and phishing attacks.

A recent survey conducted by Cybersecurity Insiders has discovered that over a billion Android-based smartphones and tablets are vulnerable to hackers. The report further suggests that more than 40% of people using smartphones are susceptible to hacks as their devices are running older versions of software giving hackers a fair chance to snoop on their personal information. Seven million mobile phones running on Android 5 or even older versions in the UK are at the risk of being hacked. To add oil to the fire, the majority of mobile banking apps are also vulnerable to threats, according to a report from Positive Technologies. India with the world's second-largest smartphone user base is shifting as a mobile-first economy. However, the country is on the verge of being victimised to financial fraud and data theft.

Types of Security attacks on mobile phones

As the use of mobile phones has increased tenfold in the recent years, cybercriminals are using filthy techniques to steal data from users. Every data that they steal has enormous value in the data market. To take counteractions, we first need to know the types of cyber attacks that could put data at risk.

OS attack

Operation system attacks take place when the vulnerability of the OS system is found and exploited. For example, buffer overflow, unpatched systems. There are four ways in which OS attacks take place.

• Misconfiguration attacks- This type of attack happens due to misconfiguration of the deployed devices or system towards its databases, networks, web servers, application platforms, etc.

• Application-level attacks- It is targeted towards installed applications on a mobile phone.

• Shrink wrap code attacks- It happens when the code is not fine-tuned.

App attacks

Unlike web applications, mobile apps are directly exposed to binary-level attacks, as the application must be made public. The attacker is able to download the app and to comprise the source code to exploit it. Some of the ways of doing so are,

• Reverse-engineering

• Extracting sensitive information

• Inserting malicious code and redistributing the app

Malware-related attacks

Malware attacks take place when cybercriminals create malicious software that is installed on someone else's device without their knowledge to gain access to personal information or damage the device. It usually takes place for financial gains. Mobile ransomware attacks are on spike since 2018 with most of the attacks happening in the United States. Some of the basic malware attacks are,

• Exploit kit

• Malicious websites and drive-by-downloads

• Malvertising

• Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack

• Man-in-the-browser (MitB) attack

Communication-based attacks

Communication plays a vital role in messages sent across the network. Employees collaborating on projects must share mission-critical details that could end up ruining the whole project if placed at wrong hands. Recently, the attacks on corporate communication networks are souring the need for a secure individual endpoint and the UC system.

Ways to ensure security in smartphones

Mobile phones have critical information like contact details, files and mobile applications which are vulnerable to cyberattacks. The most targeted source is pictures and videos. These breaches are different from the attack on the desktop. Unlike mobile users, mobile phone users can't see the full URL of a page making it difficult to know if the website is secure. Henceforth, users must protect the files from hackers who gain access to their personal accounts.

Here are some ways to make your smartphone encrypted,

• Learn about the data that is being collected by applicationsincluding contacts, photos, internet data and call logs. Understand how the data is being used by these applications and ensure it is not used in a bad way.

• Use different and complicated passwords to each one of the apps and sites.

• Users can choose to do second-layer protection by doing a two-factor identification system.

• It is mandatory to update applicationsand operating system whenever a new version becomes available.

Most of the companies have firewall security to protect the network in the office. However, since the working has shifted to remote ways, the protection is at the critical condition. The right approach to bridge the gap between remote working and security breach is by securing the device and taking network parallelly. The security of the office network can be extended to incorporate the smartphone of individuals working remotely by enabling remote VPN access. A VPN gives end-to-end protection to online activity and location that helps bloc online ad trackers and secures the data that is sent and received when the user is connected to the internet.

Conclusion

As the world is shifting to remote working, it is more likely that it turns out to be new normal. However, smartphone data protection is not impossible, it is just tough. In a nutshell, smartphone users should take precautionary measures before anything bad happens.