Mobile Security - Introduction

In this tutorial, we will deal with mobile security concepts mostly from the practical point of view. Take a look at the following graph, it illustrates the ever-growing number of mobile phone users across the world, which brings out the importance of mobile security.

The estimated number of mobile devices is around 5.8 billion, which is thought to have grown exponentially within five years and is supposed to reach nearly 12 billion within four years. Hence, it will be an average of two mobile devices per person on the planet. This makes us fully dependent on mobile devices with our sensitive data being transported all over. As a result, mobile security is one of the most important concepts to take in consideration.

Mobile Security as a concept deals with the protection of our mobile devices from possible attacks by other mobile devices, or the wireless environment that the device is connected to.

Following are the major threats regarding mobile security −

• Loss of mobile device. This is a common issue that can put at risk not only you but even your contacts by possible phishing.

• Application hacking or breaching. This is the second most important issue. Many of us have downloaded and installed phone applications. Some of them request extra access or privileges such as access to your location, contact, browsing history for marketing purposes, but on the other hand, the site provides access to other contacts too. Other factors of concern are Trojans, viruses, etc.

• Smartphone theft is a common problem for owners of highly coveted smartphones such as iPhone or Android devices. The danger of corporate data, such as account credentials and access to email falling into the hands of a tech thief is a threat.