Smartphones have become a mine of
personal information, holding bank data, credit card information and addresses,
making them the preferred target for cyber-criminals, experts warn.
"Cyber-criminals go where there is value, and they have understood that the
smartphone has become the preferred terminal for online shopping and
payment," said Tanguy de Coatpont, head of the French branch of
international anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab at the Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona.
Ransom-ware, which seizes control
of computers and demands money to unblock users' data, has already started to
target smartphones. Now the devices are also being sought after as a gateway to
key information about its user, experts at the phone industry's largest annual
trade fair said. Cyber-criminals have progressed from smartphone ransom-ware
attacks to using Trojan Horse malware that can steal the login credentials of
mobile banking users, said Fabien Rech, the head of the French division of
Intel Security.
Using the stolen credentials,
thieves can then log in to the victim's account remotely and transfer money
out. "We see more and more attacks against banking apps," said Rech.
There was a 17 percent increase in attacks targeting banking apps last year
around the world, according to Slovakian cyber-security firm ESET. A new crop of
younger cyber-criminals is more at ease with smartphones, said Russian online
security specialist Eugene Kaspersky, the head of Kaspersky Lab. "I think
that old generation of cyber-criminals are on personal computers, the new are
those who are on mobile," he said.
While most cyber-attacks target
Android, the widespread smartphone operating system developed by US Internet
giant Google, Apple's iOS system, used on iPhones and generally considered more
secure, is not immune from attack either. "Frauding iOS could be easier
because you only have few devices using it," said Avishai Shoushen, the
head of Israeli mobile advertising platform Clicks Mob. Since iPhones can be
connected to other Apple products, hacking into the handset can give
a cyber-criminal access to the data in other connected gadgets as well, said
Ciaran Bradley, chief technology officer at Irish security firm Adaptive
Mobile.
"Just an email looking like
its coming from Apple can give an opportunity to access personal account
information from any other device," he said. Some phone-makers like
Australia's Cog System are developing phones with extra security features to
appeal to consumers who are concerned about hacking. The company unveiled in
Barcelona the D4 Secure SDK, which it called "the world's most secure
smartphone".
Cog
Systems, which has for years supplied super secure phones for governments, is
targeting big companies with the device. Experts say most cyber attacks could be
prevented by smartphone users, who are often not aware that their device could
be targeted. "Consumers think that it is up to manufacturers to handle
security issues, they tend to believe their connected devices are secure and
they don't think about it once it is open and running," said Rich.
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