Hackers will find a way, even if your phone is in your pocket
YOU think that smartphone in your pocket is safe from hackers? Think again, because your phone is a gold mine for tech-savvy crooks who want your personal information.
Experts now warn that smartphones are more vulnerable to hacking than personal computers. If you store banking information, e-mails, passwords and other data on a cellphone — which is always connected to the internet — chances are that these sophisticated syndicates can gain access to it.
South Africa already had the highest cybercrime rate in Africa, said IT lawyer Sizwe Snail, and it is a crime that is likely to grow as more people switch to smartphones.
Professor Anthony Minnaar, head of security management in the University of South Africa’s department of criminology and security science, said at a recent cybercrime conference that anyone using smartphones or tablets had to be vigilant. ‘‘Nobody’s talking about it. The cellphone networks are all about connectivity. Smartphones can be hacked if someone has the correct equipment,” he said.
Just how serious the latest threats have become was clear when some of the world’s best hackers and computer scientists gathered at the Black Hat hackers’ convention in Las Vegas at the end of July.
There, these computer whizzes proved how easy it was to hack someone’s phone, in one case using a doctored charger.
Researchers demonstrated how a code could be loaded on a cellphone through the charger, which would be used to steal information on the handset — and even track the owner’s movements.
Mobile device expert Peter Fryer said cellphones posed unique challenges because of their hardware and operating systems.
‘‘There’s an assumption that because it’s in my pocket, it’s secure . . . But it is connected to the internet and the risks are the same as a computer. In some instances, the risks are higher,” said Fryer.
Craig Rosewarne, a technology security guru and director of Wolfpack Information Risk, said Android phones were the most vulnerable because hackers target apps used on that operating system.
Apps are programmes that users can install on their phones, including software that allows them to watch movies, play games and — what criminals will really be after — do their banking.
Rosewarne warned that smartphones were also increasingly being used as espionage tools — anyone with hacking skills can track a person’s exact location, just like James Bond would in the movies.
‘‘It’s quite scary actually,” he said. “For just $8 [about R80] a month, a low-cost tool can be bought to use across Android, BlackBerry and iPhone. The controller can intercept anything, including the phone’s camera.”
According to research by World Wide Worx, there are 40 million cellphone users in South Africa, of whom 14.3 million have smartphones.
BlackBerry has the biggest share of the local smartphone market with 5.5 million users, compared with about one million iPhone users. Nokia phones using Symbian number 4.4 million and phones using Android number 2.5 million.
Rosewarne said a hacker could easily turn an Android smartphone into a surveillance device by copying and pasting malicious code in an app such as the popular game Angry Birds.