(Newswire.net — June 10, 2020) — With the world being threatened by the novel coronavirus, the new era of remote working has opened the door to a dimension of security breaches and ransomware. As humankind grapples with the pandemic for its existence, the need for a strengthened online security increases. The World has been thrown into a new norm of social distancing and lockdown and while businesses shift their focus on remote working, their security system battles the rapidly growing threats coming from attackers.
Even though the pandemic brings with it a ton of challenges including increased cyber threats, this could be a learning curve for us to develop a stronger security system. We can use this crisis as an opportunity to advance and evolve our technology just as the world is stepping into a new era of digitization. A steep rise has been observed in phishing attacks aiming at smartphones.
Let us have a look at the recent cybersecurity news from the Cyberbeat, the leading cyber security platform. The Cyberbeat brings to you information that will help you keep threats at bay and keep your smartphones and personal information safe and secure.
What Is A phishing attack?
A phishing attack is launched to extract confidential data like account IDs, passwords, financial details like bank account numbers, credit card details. This is done by pretending to be a legitimate organisation on the internet.
An Increase in Phishing Attacks Aiming at Smartphones –
With a shift in the work environment, smartphone users have now become more susceptible to such phishing attacks. These phishing attacks usually aim to extricate information belonging to corporate companies like their trade secrets or corrupt their networks. Late 2019 and 2020 alone have observed a 37% increase in phishing attacks targeting smartphones.
Attacks which are aimed at laptops and desktop applications are much easier to discover. However, with the smartphone’s small screen it becomes extremely convenient for the perpetrator to go unnoticed through various applications like email, SMS, and other social media.
There has been a rise in such phishing attacks during the COVID-19 as these attackers are disguising themselves as health associations and bodies working under the Government.
Organisations working for the Government and under the World Health Organisation have been announcing the rise in the number of cyber threats which aim at tricking people into giving them their login credentials or spam them with emails and messages, opening which will give these perpetrators access to the person’s smartphone. These malwares have also been spreading through emails which pose to share important information regarding COVID-19. Since Covid-19 has wreaked such havoc across the globe, people open these links without even giving it a second thought, in order to gain more knowledge on the current situation. This enables the attackers to get into their devices. Ever since the year began, 4000 such organisations claiming to be COVID-19 related organisations have registered themselves. Out of these 4000, more than 3% are corrupted malware and another 5% remains to be extremely distrustful.
Why are the attacks harder to locate in a smartphone?
In a smartphone we are unable to look at the complete URL, examine links and since we are so used to the fast paced world, we click on anything without giving it much thought. Therefore, these attackers get a chance to get into the networks without being observed by someone who is not aware of what to look for.
These attackers design websites that look similar to the already existing websites of the corporation they are attacking and create falsified login pages. When an employee or a customer uses this fake login page and enters their username and password, they are unknowingly giving access to their accounts to these perpetrators, who can now corrupt the company networks.
Not only are these attackers aiming at the corporate networks but also individual private information. Some of these attackers target smartphones to steal sensitive data such as financial information like banking details, credit card information, login details to different accounts and more such confidential personal data.
How to Combat?
Protecting your smartphone from such phishing attacks can be extremely tough but it is not impossible. Companies must forewarn their employees of a possible breach and the risks of phishing attacks. This will create awareness amongst the employees and will help them stay alert. Companies could also create security apps for mobile phones which would enable them to predict a breach in the phone’s security system and immediately block the link. However, this must be done keeping the person’s privacy in mind. The app should be protective in nature to keep the user’s smartphone safe from corrupt links but must also not inspect the user’s personal information or content stored in the phone. The security system should only block the link.
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