We introduce the topic of mobile security, the increased attack surface area created by mobile proliferation, and the challenges specific to mobile security.
As the number of mobile device users increases each year, the concern of mobile security becomes more critical than ever. Mobile security is the protection of portable devices such as laptops, smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches from threats and vulnerabilities. Now, people are commonly using mobile devices for tasks that involve sensitive data like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and important banking information. According to data from Ericson and Tune forecasts, the number of smartphone users will increase by approximately 800 million users in 2017 alone. This creates a larger target for hackers and significantly more sensitive data to be stolen.
There’s no argument that the growth of mobile technology is transforming our world. While our untethered “new normal” presents significant opportunities and advantages for businesses and individual users, the opportunities extend to people looking to use those advantages for crime as well.
However, mobile risks and threats don’ t have to be roadblocks to implementing mobile computing and achieving its business benefits. Not if you take the appropriate steps to secure your mobile devices. In this two-part article, we provide some high-level essentials for helping you understand the risks of the mobile platform – and provide countermeasures for embracing mobile technology more confidently and securely in your environment.
Just as servers and desktops offer different operating systems (Linux, UNIX, Windows, Mac OS, etc.) , mobile devices have operating system options including the most prominent: iOS (Apple) and Android (Google) .
Similar to servers and desktops, Apple and Android mobile devices each have distinct user interfaces and coding languages (primarily Objective-C for iOS and Java for Android) . Both support a variety of mobile applications each designed to deliver specific functionality (“There’s an app for that!”) contrary to the more integrated functionality of desktop software packages (e.g., Microsoft Office or Adobe Creative Suite) .
As a result, there are differences in mobile application development requirements and best practices across the mobile platforms as well as across the main types of mobile applications. Below are three of the main types of mobile applications that you may run into:
Due to the nature of how mobile devices function, they tend to have unique vulnerabilities when compared to desktops and servers, each with its own idiosyncrasies, built-in defenses, attack vectors, and threats. For example:
