Some 83 per cent of users in the UAE agree that their mobile phones are an extension of themselves and that they feel lost without them. This is according to 2013 TNS Annual Mobile Life Report, a recent study by custom market research organisation TNS Middle East and North Africa.
This high percentage highlights how important our smartphones are to us. However, how many of us are actually protecting these devices?
If you were under the impression that mobile security was only about bring your own device (BYOD) trends and business or enterprise technology, think again.
What would you do if I told you I could steal your information by hacking into your smartphone, remotely accessing your photos, past and current GPS locations, bank account details, call logs, messages, email, music, appointments and instant messaging history on applications such as WhatsApp? All this is possible — for Dh460.
The best part is you would never even know it.
We have all read our fair share of features on mobile security information, rants on inefficient BYOD systems and studies on security concerns with cloud computing. Now, since the fine line between private and virtual lives is beginning to blur, users are starting to pay attention, since it is their personal information and their very identity that can be sold for less than Dh500.
Easy access
A recent training exercise by Trend Micro, a leader in internet content, cloud computing and data security software, highlighted how hackers can access your information with a live demo in its Dubai office. Tony Tabaneh, Senior Sales Engineer, explains that reading a couple of articles and blogs or watching a few YouTube videos will do the trick and make you an efficient hacker.
The first step requires a slight amount of trickery, with you having to get your victim to download an application. It might sound complex, but there are many extremely convincing ways to achieve this and easiest way costs the hacker no more than Dh50. After the application is installed, it takes approximately 15 minutes to retrieve data from the phone.
“I am an IT professional, but I’ve never hacked a smartphone before,” says Tabaneh. “Yet I was able to learn a lot on the subject and set up a whole lab in less than three days. As for the tools and cost, it’s available online relatively cheaply.”
Trend Micro’s demo costs Dh460, although Tabaneh says he has found other sets of applications that can deliver the same results for half the price.
Combined effort
Tabaneh believes that both IT departments and end users should consciously consider smartphone threats, and the media, security vendors and governments should work together to spread awareness.
If the majority of users in the country claim their smartphones are an extension of themselves and that they would be lost without them, after spending a fair amount of money buying the device in the first place, why don’t we all spend a little more to equip it with good security software?
There are several security apps available through the application stores. For starters, Android users can download Trend Micro’s free Mobile Security and Antivirus app. The app includes anti-virus and Facebook privacy scanners, a backup and find-your-phone feature and 50MB cloud storage space.
The recommended app for iOS users is the ever-popular Hotspot Shield VPN. Besides being the world’s most popular VPN, the app also protects and notifies you of spam, phishing and rogue websites while protecting your device from malware.
