How to keep your cell phones secure
Project Name: How to keep your cell phones secure
Description: Mobile malware is spreading exponentially today, stealing personal and professional information which may ruin one’s financial, professional and mental health. This blog shares all simple tips to understand how one’s cell phone can be managed smartly from malwares and viruses.
Author: Rohit D Sadgune / Amruta Sadgune
FAQ:-
- How do viruses spread in mobile?
- How to keep your cell phones secure?
- How to understand that cell phone is affected with threats?
- How to protect your mobile from threats?
Today, imagining ourselves without a cell phone is like getting a feeling of incompleteness. Cell phones have already become an integral part of our lives. In such scenarios we need to take care of all the possible paths which may acts as a threat to the device. Smart phone today has become more technically advanced. Now a day, malware from mobile apps is causing a big issue in cell phones. Let us educated ourselves on the adversaries and how they spread.
How do viruses spread in mobile?
- Downloading of free apps from internet for gaming, social purpose or for any other technical purposes which may contain malware.
- Visiting malicious websites which contains malware or adversaries.
- By clicking on the fake errors, messages, pop-up windows that can directly download malware on mobile.
- Opening emails from non-trusted resources which highly spreads viruses on mobile.
- SMS containing suspicious links or asking for personal information.
- Apps which have questionnaires to be filled.
- Insecure Bluetooth wireless connection
- Multimedia Messaging Service
- Theme packages
- Music players
- PC Hookups :- Connecting to a system which is already infected with threats.
Example of Mobile Malwares
Cabir :- This malware spreads through insecure Bluetooth connection. Infection pattern reduces the battery life and deletes personal data. Potential origin of this threats is from France.
CommWarrior:- This malware spreads through Bluetooth and MMS. It deletes personal data on14th of every month. Potential origin of this threats is from Russia.
Skulls:- This is highly destructive malware. This gets installed on your device through theme packages, apps, music players. potential origin of this threats is from Turkey.
CardTrap:- This is cross platform infected malware. This malware overrides phone-book, messages and corrupts valuable personal data. potential origin of this threats is from Turkey.
Doomed:- This malware is bundle of all above listed malwares. This threat prevents mobile device to get restart and in parallel it spreads.
How to identify that cell phone is infected with threats?
- Increase in data usage
- Rapid pop-up
- Poor performance of your cell phone (slowness of app opening or functioning)
- Unexpected calls and messages.
- Drain of battery
- Change of home page on browser of cell phone.
- On visiting website forcing you to download app or register on portal
- Unnecessary themes are installed
- Music players behaves abnormally
How to protect your mobile from threats?
- Use apps from trusted source only, check information of the app first before downloading. Try avoiding third party apps.
- Create strong passwords.
- Do not click on any non-trusted or suspicious looking links.
- Keep your mobile anti-virus up to date.
- Clean all junk files from mobile regularly.
- Read all emails with an eagle eye like reading the subject carefully, senders email id and also the email attachments.
- Do not click on URL mentioned in the emails if you find it irrelevant or suspicious.
- Uninstall all irrelevant apps from mobile which are not needed.
- Do change your password regularly like once in 6 months.
- Avoid taking calls from high rated spams.
- Ensure that your personal and financial transactions are done through secured and trusted network.
- Always avoid connecting to non-trusted Bluetooth, WI-Fi network and Data sharing apps.
- Take regular backup of your mobile data.
- Setup a remote Wipe: Google SYNC your device. If device is lost then wiping all data remotely can be done by using this feature.
- Encrypting phone storage: Modern devices today have the ability for encryption of the phone storage. In case if device is stolen there is a little chance to use the data present in it.
