The Hacking Threat

In the internet arena, everything is ‘hackable’. Any gadget that goes online can be hacked. And it can be done very easily without the user’s knowledge.

Smartphones, considering the numbers of it around, give hackers a vast field to play their malicious game in. Thus, smartphone owners shall always bear in mind that it's so easy to hack into their devices, advised an expert who used to work for Israeli Intelligence and now runs a mobile security company.

“Hacking” has become quite a familiar word among users of computers and similar devices. It is the act of developing, changing or attempting to circumvent computer security hardware or software. It is done either for positive or negative (even criminal) purposes. Criminal hackers develop computer malware or spyware to gain access to confidential information, including passwords to people’s bank accounts.

Even if a hacker cannot get into one’s phone, he can try to get the sensitive data stored inside, including contacts, sites visited and e-mails. The services that smartphone users rely on are much more attractive target to attackers. The photo leak from iCloud, where a bunch of celebrities had their images posted all over the internet, is one example.

With the rise of smartphones and tablets in the workplace, hackers attempt to attack enterprises through vulnerabilities in mobile devices. According to an

expert, a breach originating through a mobile device – or is just contained to a mobile device – is very unlikely to be detected by a business company’s information-technology team. Now, it’s a cause for alarm.

But Jennifer Schlesinger and Andrea Day, in an article at www.cnbc.com, write that there is a silver lining, echoing the view of the wireless industry. "The U.S. has one of the lowest malware infection rate in the world, thanks to the entire wireless ecosystem working together and individually to vigilantly protect consumers," they quote John Marinho, vice-president of technology & cyber-security at CTIA, the wireless association. CTIA is an industry group which represents both phone carriers and manufacturers.

Schlesinger and Day mentions three ways by which a smartphone is most likely to be breached:

Unsecure Wi-Fi. In public places, such as cafes and airports, the Wi-Fi could be unsecure, letting malicious actors view everything one does while connected online. To detect an unsecure connection, one shall pay attention to warning message his device gives him. On iPhones, a warning will come up saying that the server identity cannot be verified and asking if the user still wants to connect. He will be prompted to click "continue" before he can join the Wi-Fi.

Unfortunately, many people ignore the warning – about 92 percent click to continue. It’s such a poor security decision. Ideally, for protection, one shall be very careful when connecting to free Wi-Fi and avoid sharing sensitive information.

Operating system flaws. Smartphone manufacturers equip their products with good protection features, but still there are vulnerabilities which could let hackers in. And so manufacturers frequently release operating system updates to protect users. These updates contain important security fixes and, thus, shall be applied as soon as they come out.

Malicious apps. Applications add functionality to smartphone, but these also increase the risk of a data breach, especially if they are downloaded from websites or messages, instead of an app store. Hidden inside applications, even the ones that really work, could be a malicious code that lets hackers steal data.

The app ecosystem of mobile phones is enormous. According to an expert, neither Apple nor Google can possibly look through every single app on their store and determine if it's malicious or not. The general advice for security is for one to limit the number of apps installed on his smartphone.

"The more apps you have increases what we call the attack surface on your phone,” the expert says. “That means there is more lines of code and, therefore, higher incidence that there is going to be a security-critical bug in that amount of code."

Warning messages that pop up when installing applications shall not be ignored. If a warning says, “This app will have access to your email. Would you agree?” one shall stop and consider the possible implications of agreeing. There is no such thing as being 100-percent secure. But there are many ways to reduce the risk and make it harder for hackers to invade one’s smartphone.