ZTE, one of the top handset makers in the world has come out and said that it had put a back door into one of its models for use of software updates. Anyone with the password (which was available online) would be able to get access to your device and your personal information.
We have seen malware targeted at iPhone (The Rick Astley worm, the botnet that came a month after) and Android (The Fake Instagram App) and it seems that mobile devices are always under a looming threat as they get more popular.
RIM used to market their phones as the "secure" platform that nobody has "rooted" or "jailbroken" yet it did not help them that much when you look where the market is today.
When you use (or buy) a phone, are you concerned about security threats?
www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/zte-backdoor/
www.tomshardware.com/news/iphone-virus-botnet-bank...
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2132047/No...
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Does phone security matter anymore?
iPhone malware is still limited to jailbroken phones with unchanged SSH passwords, right? Certainly that's the case with your two examples.
I don't think that the critical marker of security is that nobody has rooted the phone, I think it's a question of how much exposure users have when using the phone, and what mitigation options are available (remote wipe, for example).
I don't think that the critical marker of security is that nobody has rooted the phone, I think it's a question of how much exposure users have when using the phone, and what mitigation options are available (remote wipe, for example).
You are correct in both your points. It did have to do with jailbroken iPhones.
The rise of mobile malware on all platforms is evident and Kaspersky this week announced it is expecting it to rise in the near future.
Having mitigation options is important, as you state, and there are Android antivirus apps (possibly iPhone ones too, I havent checked the App Store recently)
Perhaps users will have to be more security conscious though in the near future
The rise of mobile malware on all platforms is evident and Kaspersky this week announced it is expecting it to rise in the near future.
Having mitigation options is important, as you state, and there are Android antivirus apps (possibly iPhone ones too, I havent checked the App Store recently)
Perhaps users will have to be more security conscious though in the near future
I imagine that as more and more people use phones to access the web and store their personal information the number of virus', malware and other infections will rise as well. Personally, I'm not worried about security on my phone at the moment and I don't think that I will be unless something major happens and no, I don't know what "major" is.
The sad thing is that there will always be people who will write code that is used to get information that they shouldn't have access to. I don't think that any OS vendor is immune from that; Apple was recently hit with a virus on their desktop OS that infected 1% of their user base; daringfireball.net/2012/04/flashback_eword
The key is how the vendor responds to the reports; do they send out patches and support the customer or do they suggest that their customer base should use a class of app (anti virus) that they haven't needed before?
The sad thing is that there will always be people who will write code that is used to get information that they shouldn't have access to. I don't think that any OS vendor is immune from that; Apple was recently hit with a virus on their desktop OS that infected 1% of their user base; daringfireball.net/2012/04/flashback_eword
The key is how the vendor responds to the reports; do they send out patches and support the customer or do they suggest that their customer base should use a class of app (anti virus) that they haven't needed before?
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