All these days, we have seen cyber criminals infiltrating networks and taking down computers. But after the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the focus of hackers has shifted more towards the smart phones with more phishing and social engineering attacks recorded in a 2nd quarter of 2022.
Embedding malicious links in social media, emails, apps and SMS is making hackers target tech savvy individuals, thus taking this crime industry to a multi-billion-dollar business. Mainly such attacks are often launched by taking poor device security and software vulnerabilities into consideration. Though the understanding of the end user and his/her mental process of ducking such attacks is also taken into deliberation.
According to the Jurgen Stock, the Interpol Secretary, the global cost of cyber crime is said to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025, and among the guestimate, half of the amount is expected to be made through phishing targeting mobiles and tablets.
A phishing attack is nothing but a malicious link pasted in an email, SMS, or social media account, that when clicked, leads the victim to a malevolent website designed to steal personal details or bombard the smart phone with a spyware or such espionage tools.
And as more individuals are using personal mobile phones for office use, it can also compromise business security via personal devices- especially in the realm of remote work or WFH culture.
Agility, awareness and alertness are the only mantra to mitigate risks. Parallelly using an antivirus software on the mobile, adding a password to sensitive folders and by not clicking on links send by unknown senders can help guaranty highest level of security to a smart phone.
