Hackers and viruses now stalking smart phone

Saturday, June 15  2013 

In Summary

• Mobile phones used to have proprietary operating system unique only to the manufacturer which had the beneficial effect of making it harder to design a mass attack. However, the rise of software platforms and operating systems shared by many manufacturers such as Java, Microsoft operating systems, Linux, or Symbian OS, may increase the spread of viruses in the future.

Computer viruses have plagued consumers for many years now, causing companies to spend heavily on installing every kind of firewall known to mankind to keep their security software updated.

Smartphones are the new laptops – just with a smaller, sexier design. As smartphones continue to progress and consumers continue to use them for everything from taking pictures to managing their financial portfolios, viruses and hackers will continue to find new hunting grounds, and computer security software companies will continue to transform their mobile virus protection software.

Viruses can cause serious problems to one’s life if compromised. For example, a virus may allow unauthorised user to access a phone to find passwords or data stored on the device. Moreover, they can be used to make the phone to make calls or send messages at the owner’s expense.

Especially in a country like Kenya with world renowned brand like Mpesa as a primary banking instrument, there is need to protect the phones especially the susceptible smartphones.

For example, a there is a Trojan malware infecting Android phones which is said to be capable of intercepting inbound text messages and forwarding them to hackers. The malware, called Android

Pincer.2.origin, is particularly troubling because it can easily thwart the verification systems employed by online banking, email and social media accounts.

The malware spreads as fake security software that tricks users into thinking they need to install it on their Android phones. After installation, users will get a notification that installation was successful, but the malware won’t do any other noticeable activities.

It will instead run in the background, connecting to a remote server to send information about the user’s Android device, including model and serial number, service provider information, phone number and operating system.

Once connected, hackers can intercept and forward messages from specific phone numbers, send new text messages, display a message on the Android device’s screen, and other deceptive activities.

The ability to specify a phone number from which to intercept messages allows a hacker to use the malware for targeted attacks, stealing only specific messages that contain valuable information. For example, the hacker could set the malware to forward texts received from banking services.

Two-step verification systems often use cellphone messaging to verify a user’s identity. The user registers his or her phone number with the service, and when they attempt to log in to their account, the service sends a text message with the password. The user must then use this password to complete the login.

Mobile phones used to have proprietary operating system unique only to the manufacturer which had the beneficial effect of making it harder to design a mass attack. However, the rise of software platforms and operating systems shared by many manufacturers such as Java, Microsoft operating systems, Linux, or Symbian OS, may increase the spread of viruses in the future.

How do you know that your device has been compromised? One big sign is that your device starts acting strangely.

May be the battery is draining way too soon or the icons on the screen jump haphazardly on the screen. Or perhaps after topping-up airtime on your phone, just too soon it runs out and you are certain you didn’t make calls worth the amount.

One thing you can do to keep your phone protected is to keep the software on your devices up to date. But there are certain sub-standard phones that unfortunately cannot be updated. There have been some studies that found a lot of people are on phones that can’t be updated and are susceptible to an attack.

As more and more people use their smartphones to store their personal and professional information, the temptation for hackers to create dangerous viruses and other malware will continue to increase.

Sam Wambugu is a monitoring and evaluation specialist. Email: samwambugu@gmail.com