Smartphone users are being warned they must take action to protect themselves from criminals who are now targeting their devices more and more. Get Safe Online are running a national computer security campaign as it says there has been a rise in smartphone malware as the market continues to get bigger.
Criminals are targeting their phones by creating Trojan copies of applications and thus it is tricking the users into installing them. Once it is installed, the app will sit there in the background generating money via premium rate text messages.
The campaign by Get Safe Online is a collaboration between the government, police and industry and they say there is some concern that smartphone users including those who have Android devices were not protecting their phones against malware.
Tony Neate, Head of Get Safe Online, is urging people to look at their phone security, "Mobile phones are very personal. I have talked to people who are never more than a yard away from their mobile phone. Because of that attachment, they start to think that they are in a way invincible.
"It's the end user that picks up the tab - it's your phone that incurs the costs. Whether you have pay-as-you-go or a monthly account, that money is going to come from the account and go to the criminal."
Security firm Symantec have said in its annual threat assessment that Android devices are at risk having found at least six varieties of malicious software. Francis Maude, Minister for Cyber Security said, "More and more people are using their smartphone to transmit personal and financial information over the internet, whether it's for online banking, shopping or social networking.”
Published on Wednesday 09 November 2011 @ 10:09:25 by ANDYW
Categories:
Smartphones