NEWS: Be smart with your smartphone

KUALA LUMPUR: Most smartphone owners are more concerned about losing their devices rather than that their phones may be compromised by hackers, said Russia-based computer security company Kaspersky Lab.

Sergey Nevstruev, director of mobile solutions at Kaspersky Lab, said it is certainly inconvenient when you lose your smartphone, along with all the information — confidential or not — that is stored on it.

However, he said, smartphone users would be smart to also be concerned about hackers getting to the data on these devices, especially those used by captains of industry or high-ranking government employees.

Nevstruev believes that the number of mobile malware (malicious software, such as viruses and trojans, that target portable devices) infections will spike in the next two years.

“Just one-and-a-half years ago, we were recording two to three malware signatures a week. Nowadays, we get two to three signatures a day,” he said.

He said cybercriminals are targeting smartphones because more and more these devices are being used to store confidential data, and are more frequently also being used as “mobile wallets” for electronic payments.

Also, smartphones are easier to hack into, compared to personal computers and computer networks. In addition, many computer users are wary of clicking on an unusual link these days, but most mobile phone owners are less wary of such risks.

“There are trojans that can get onto a phone by presenting themselves as dating, chatting or websurfing programs for users to download,” said Nevstruev.

Once it gets in, he said, the trojan program could steal by hijacking a user’s mobile account to send out premium SMSes. Or worse, copy out sensitive files for misuse or ransom.

Pain in the ... SMS

Less threatening but still a nuisance is mobile spam. Like spam on the PC, it is the bane of all phones, not just smartphones.

Nevstruev said that in China, the average cellular service subscriber receives six to 10 spam messages everyday.

The problem for now, he said, seems to be worse in some countries than in others. But the situation could escalate in the near future, as it did for PC users these past years.

He offered a few words of advice. Don’t be careless with your phone, especially if it’s a smartphone containing confidential data. Always keep your number as private as possible.

When downloading programs, double check the reliability of the source. And, always scan the phone’s memory regularly for malware with a reputable antivirus product.