Mobile Phone Security: Risks and Dangers

Mobile Phone Security: Risks and Dangers

Mobile Phone Security: Risks and Dangers

It's an undeniable trend that ownership of smartphones is growing rapidly. This year's annual Communications Market report from Ofcom found that in the UK, 12.8 million people now own a feature-rich mobile phone an uptake of 81% since 2009. With fierce competition between UK network operators and handset manufacturers these high-end sets are becoming more affordable to own and now are commonly available as pay as you go mobile phones, not just on long-term pay monthly contracts.

Far more sophisticated than your old Nokia brick, these smartphones are also changing the way that people use mobile phones. Web surfing is the fastest growing activity here, and this is reflected in the volume of data transferring across mobile networks this has rocketed by 240% in 2009. Of course some of this data is sensitive information that in the wrong hands could be very valuable, and more and more hackers are sitting up and taking notice.

Chris Wysopal at the technology security firm Veracode was quoted by the BBC as saying that smartphones are now at the point the PC was in 1999. During this point in their development malicious programmes were simply a nuisance. A decade on and criminal gangs use malware to steal saleable information.

The BBC themselves demonstrated this security risk and how easy it can be for a hacker to take advantage of your mobile phone. Using a widely-available app development kit and some snippets of code floating out on the web, they cobbled together a crude game that unbeknownst to the user collected phonebook contacts, logged the phone's location, copied text messages and emailed this data to a specially set up account.

It can be difficult to detect malicious software from the legitimate as functions such as accessing contact lists and location are used by legitimate programmes to integrate social networks, emails and apps together something that is now expected of a top-quality app.

Additionally, rather than writing their own app that might never get downloaded, hackers will hijack a popular app and load it with spyware before offering it for free online. The web is rife with pirated versions of software being offered as an alternative.

So what can you do to minimise your risk?

Download from reputable sources. The large app stores of course police software; RIM (BlackBerry) and Google use a code-signing system to turn off apps that prove malicious.

Also ask yourself which developer an application is coming from not just the site or the carrier. Ask who they are and check whether it's a trusted source.

Back up data on your handsets to a PC. Many mobile phone operators offer this as a service with pay monthly mobile phone contracts

If your battery life suddenly begins to deteriorate even when you have disabled most apps or during the night when it is not active, this can indicate that your phone is running activities in the background. Don't forget to check though that you haven't left an app or GPS running in an open browser this can sap battery too.

Keep an eye on your bill for any unexpected numbers appearing that might be a sign that software on your phone is dialling out to premium-rate lines and charging you for an unauthorised service.

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