Monday, August 08, 2011

Smartphone hacking on the rise

While earlier we only had to worry about our phones being mysteriously lost on subways, or left behind in restaurants, there arise new ways to worry about your phone even when it is in your posession.

Last week, hackers targeted the Android OS and installed malicious code on smartphones, that not only logged details about calls, but also recorded these calls. Less than a month ago, there was a security flaw discovered in iPhones, that prompted the German government to issue warnings to Apple. With an estimated 40% of adults using smartphones in the US, hackers have a wide range of targets to choose from.

This is more concerning in light of new tech developements such as Google introducing the Google Wallet which enables making payments using smartphones. Phone infections, if detected will mostly be the owner's responsibility. This article has more in depth data and examples of the increasing digital invasions discovered since January this year.

1 comment:

Dan said...

Although hacking may be on the rise, we would hope that phone providers would be able to better manage and secure the software that is on their devices. Apple has done a much better job of this, than other providers and the hope that will the release of payment applications such a Google wallet, mobile software operating systems will be even more secure. With large players like Google offering these services, user would hope that Google would be a part of the security discussions sounding the devices and platforms that their application will reside on. Hopefully the big player will protect their investments and enforce better security before they release their application to the public.