Security Does Not Come Cheap

If you own an iPhone or Android, you know what makes it complete

. Yes, these are mobile apps. Today you can hardly imagine a smartphone without apps. From a simple application that tells about the weather, to a graphically rich 3D game, smartphone apps can glue you on your seat for several hours. Apps are popular among most smartphone users. The app experience is not just a craze it has become a passion that will be fade soon. On the other hand, developing apps has become a powerful mean of generating revenue; with increasing number of downloads, the revenue keeps on increasing.

When ordinary mobile phones turned into smartphones, a new business model, mobile application development industry emerged. Many software development companies quickly became globally recognised brands. Mobile application development proved to be conducive for aspiring developers, and also for cyber criminals. Unfortunately, they started taking an interest in developing malicious apps to earn quick money. They took advantages of security weaknesses of mobile platforms.

They found the way to enter into users smartphone through free apps. Be it Google Play or Androids Market or the Apples iTunes, free apps are available for almost all kind for activities. These apps are downloadable on smartphone within fraction of a second and then they can access private information, send text to premium numbers, etc. Of course, it is not too hard to make an app targeting sensitive information. With an OS like Android, which is better known for its openness, the security issues turn out to be more critical. Android has mostly been under the attack of malware.

Users who are not technically sound trust free apps, give permission to apps to access their contact details, calendar, physical location and other critical information and open a goldmine to be exploited by attackers. Here, not only cyber criminals, but legitimate companies also tend to do this to gather as much data as possible.

How to get protected?

One can trust paid apps as they earn from you when you purchase them. Major threat is from free apps. While downloading a free app, users need to be vigilant about the permissions required by it. The permission gives you a broad idea about the activities the app can perform on a device. Sensitive permissions are: accessing address book, calendar, geographic information, sending messages. They can directly affect the user. When you download an app, it is your responsibility to check whether the app logically needs these permissions, e.g. a torch app does never need GPS access or why an app with dancing elephant will need to access your contacts?

Rooting or jailbreaking also makes a smart device vulnerable. It is like you have willingly unbolted the security doors in your device. Until you are mobile developer, you would hardly need rooting or jailbreaking your device. The best practice is you install an effective antivirus that will keep on scanning your device.

by: Shubhangi Verma

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