BackNo anti-virus on your phone? Don’t worry
Avoid clicking on random ads, buy from official mobile app storessimple ways to protect your smartphone from malware
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In India, the number of people using mobile phones is significantly higher than those using computers. This means a large number of people rely on their smartphones for a variety of tasks, including financial transactions. For example, solutions such as Paytm make it easier to recharge your phone or direct-to-home connection, services such as Vodafone’s m-pesa and Airtel money simplify transfer of money and most e-commerce portals are pushing their users towards the smartphone apps.
With so much at stake, the onus of protecting one’s smartphone from malware and phishing scams cannot be entrusted to anti-virus apps alone. The general perception is that Android is not as secure as iOS, BlackBerry and Windows Phone smartphone operating systems (OS). In the past, several anti-virus companies have claimed that malware risk is higher in Android. In 2014, Finnish security firm F-Secure pointed out that Android accounts for 97% of all mobile malware. But Android is the most popular mobile OS globally in terms of user base, making it an attractive proposition for hackers.
While anti-virus software helps, it also comes with certain drawbacks—it drains the phone’s battery faster, slows down the device’s performance by running scans in the background, and some charge additional money for extra services such as safe browsing and Wi-Fi network scanner.
There are a few steps you can take to ensure that your phone and data are safe.
Do not click on any advert
Clicking on random ads can be harmful—these malware-infected pop-ups masquerade as something interesting, and the user basically opens the door for the malware to collect whatever data it pleases from your phone. Stay away from pop-up ads that ask you to download an app, or offer a free gift or claim the phone has been infected and an anti-virus scan needs to be run.
Stick to original app stores
Malware on phones can also be spread through applications. And by that, we mean applications that users tend to download from third-party websites and blogs—which tempt users with the idea that they can install paid apps for free. But the installation of these apps brings malware with them, which is then free to collect data from the phone, and transmit it back to its owner. Stick to official mobile app stores such as Google Play for Android and the App store for iOS. All apps on these stores are tested for security.
Be cautious about public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi networks are common at airports, cafés and other public places. These Wi-Fi networks are fertile hunting grounds for cyber attackers. It is very easy to hack into these networks (which generally are not very secure), and access data passing through the network. So, if you end up doing online shopping on one of these networks, the hacker can potentially get your credit card details. So it is best to avoid buying things online while using these free Wi-Fi networks. Another trap used by hackers is that they set up a second Wi-Fi network with the same identity as the legitimate network—all traffic is diverted to the hacker. Users should ask the admin of the network (the coffee shop manager, the kiosk at the airport, etc.) for the authentic identity and password for the network they intend to use.
Beware of selling your old Android phone
Many people sell their second-hand phones on online stores like eBay. They don’t realize that a factory reset is not always effective in case of Android phones, especially if they are running Android versions 2.3 to 4.3. According to a May report, Security Analysis Of Android Factory Resets, published by two researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, a user’s personal data can be extracted from Android phones even after a factory reset. The researchers purchased 21 second-hand Android phones from eBay for their research and were able to recover Google credentials, text messages and contacts from all of them. The report holds the lack of support by Android OS and driver support by the vendors responsible for it. In case you have an Android phone running on version 2.3 to 4.3 and you are planning to sell it, it is better to hold on to it.
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