11 Major Mobile Device Threat

Mobile devices are an attractive target for cybercriminals. Spyware, ransomware, banking trojans – it’s all there for these averagely poorly secured devices. According to security officers ESET, Sophos, Kaspersky, and Trend Micro, what are the biggest mobile device threat?

Ransomware for Android

The mobile device threat enters the smartphone via apps that the user downloads himself in app stores. “These can be games, useful apps, or counterfeit apps,” explains Harm van Koppen of Sophos. Android is especially prone to this. The control of Mobile Device Threat in the App Store is less strict than that of Apple. Moreover, the control of a phone under Android is easier to influence with an app. This is more difficult with other smartphones.

Users can stop it somewhat with the help of special security apps from various providers. They give advice if, for example, they see that a game demands a lot of civil rights or they endorse encoding an SD card. There is a similar condition to alphanumeric microelectronic digital scanners, but they are greatly more fractional than individuals for PCs This is since PCs have stood set up for vital organization finished the years. This is not (yet) the case with telephones. These are much newer systems and the user is also the local administrator of the device. That’s harder to manage.”

The problem with this is that this often also depends on the type of device. And updates are much more difficult to update. by both the manufacturer and the users. As employees in a bIf you then use many different models, you as a company do not get a good grip on them.

The Nation States Mobile Malware

This often highly sophisticated malware often arrives via text messages. “There is hardly any protection for this,” says Martin van Lom of Kaspersky. General protective measures then: Only install apps from official app stores. Update the firmware and apps regularly. Use a good security solution for mobile devices. Turn on SMS notifications from your bank because you can keep a close eye on your bank account with them. Watch all requests from apps closely, especially if they ask for permission to access your SMS. Avoid unknown Wi-Fi connections.

Multi-stage malware

This malware installs in several stages. He, therefore, does what he promises at first sight and he can use different tactics on a victim. He can therefore choose from various points what the next step will be: ransomware, an overlay with a counterfeit app to ask for a credit card number, for example – the choice is huge. Eset Emphasizes that this malware is very good at hiding and therefore recommends that you do not rely entirely on the protection of the app store but study app reviews and pay attention to the permissions the app asks for. And of course: install a good security solution for mobile devices.

Ransom Bankers

It is ransomware built on existing malware that aims to steal money. This means that paying a ransom is in fact no longer a choice. If you don’t pay, the malware can just take it off your account. Also new here is that it uses the Accessibility Services of Google Play Services to get extensive rights to take over the entire device. With that, it can, for example, encrypt all files and change the PIN code. It is often distributed as a counterfeit Adobe update through hacked websites that the victim visits with his smartphone. Again, carefully monitor what you download and use a good security solution.

Third-Party App Stores

Trend Micro emphasizes that these can pose a lot of risks. Malware-infected apps can still be found there due to their lax security in the past. That will continue for a long time. The advice is simple: limit yourself to apps from recognized and official app stores. And always install security updates immediately.

Royal family opens doors for Dutch

IT starter Amulet managed to shorten a months-long procedure – to arrive at a partnership with an American health institute – to two days. The announcement that a heavy delegation from the Netherlands, including the royal family, could be at the signing moment was sufficient.

It is a good example of the effects such a trade mission to Silicon Valley and Texas last week can have. The amulet is a startup from Utrecht that is less than two years old, which develops smart apps to make the lives of the elderly and careers easier. One of the apps is TimeSteps, a calendar and to-do list for people with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease or other progressive condition that affects memory. If the disease worsens, the app adapts, for example from a regular digital agenda to voice-activated reminders to take medicines or take a walk. Caregivers can also assign other tasks via the app; for example, ask a son or daughter to run an errand.

Establishment of Software

The startup had already had contact with a care home in California through an earlier private visit by one of the members of the management team, where there was interest in the app. Especially because the funding of health care in the US is much more individually arranged, people there are very keen to live at home longer in order to save costs.

 

That is how contact was established with the American Institute on Aging, which was interested in – through a three-party collaboration with Amulet and TimeSteps B.V. – becoming a partner. “Then you enter – certainly in the US – a process that lasts for months with lawyers”, explains Jeroen van Geelen, co-founder of Amulet. Once I was able to story that we would be in Calif. in Sep. with a heavy designation of clergymen and that possibly the king or monarch might be at the signing moment, we were out in two days. That goes ready to be fairly imposing.

The delegation has a lot of contact with each other

Van Galen did not have a lot of interaction with other American companies that gave presentations. He finds it a pity that his program did not offer space for this. On the other hand, working closely with the members of the delegation was very valuable to him. “The accompanying ministers were very accessible

and interested. I was also able to speak extensively with the mayor of Utrecht, who would like to establish the city as a startup municipality.”

The intensive contact in an informal setting within the delegation is also what Frits Garotinho, director of the ICT Top Sector refers to as an important part of the mission. Of the ten top segments in the Netherlands, managements from three were contemporary: logistics, health, and City were very useful to talk to them in dissimilar locations about teamwork. You can see that ICT is playing an increasingly important role. You talk about problems such as data sharing and data infrastructures. There are generic components, in addition to domain-specific components. How do you organize that with a view to privacy and ethics? That was very useful for the network. And also, to talk to startups in that context.”

Austin’s new breeding ground

How to best stimulate the creation and growth of innovative start-ups is always an important theme during these kinds of visits to the United States. Part of the trip was a visit to Austin in Texas, which has certainly experienced enormous growth as a result of the corona pandemic as an ‘upcoming hub at the intersection of creativity and tech’, as Garotinho describes it. The values there are much subordinate than in ‘the Gorge and employed from home has made detachments less problematic. Moreover, many large companies have opened their headquarters or a branch there. Around such a core, a breeding ground with incubators, start-ups, spin-offs, and spin-outs.” He sees a comparison with the Brainport region around Eindhoven.

 

In Austin, during a panel session at Capital Factory, the most important startup community in Austin, among other things, he signaled interest in how the collaboration between different hubs is organized at the national and regional level in the Netherlands, for example with the Dutch AI Coalition on artificial intelligence as an of the five key technologies.

Conversations Financing Model

During the part of the trip that continued to Los Angeles, Van Galen also had interesting conversations about a financing model that he himself set up with his partners from the IGNE (Latin for ‘with passion and fire’) holding, of which Amulet is a part. For example, they help start-ups to develop at a cost price in exchange for participation in these often-young companies. It was exhilarating to be able to talk about that classic with American depositors.

Physical gathering stimulates online collaboration

The journey, therefore, does not end for both van Geelani and greenhouse after their return. “You now have much easier access through the consulates to organizations that deal with Alzheimer’s and age-related diseases,” says Van Galen. Grotius sees that the consulates and representatives from other tech hubs in the United States each have an extensive network. We have learned that a lot can be done online, but for making first contacts, for scanning, and for inspiration and creativity, it’s good to get together informally every now and then.”