Wikileaks revealing that the CIA turns our connected objects into spying tools, Twitter accounts getting hacked... Do you know how to protect your data ?
The American intelligence agency would have elaborated several thousands malicious programs: virus, Trojan, malware… to take control and spy on us through our smartphones, connected televisions and even through our cars.
We discover in those revelations that the CIA has a department dedicated to attacks on mobile devices, the “Mobile Devices Branch (MDB)”, specialized on the exploitation of security breaches on iOS and Android.
Without warning manufacturers about the detected breaches, the CIA leaves an open door to hackers: geolocation, data theft, microphones and camera activation…
And they didn't wait to start hacking ! Several high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised through a third-party mobile app. It’s a world opened to the most malicious possibilities and your confidential data are a target.
Protect your smartphones and tablets with our 6 best practices:
1. Keep your system updated: An update is available? Install it right away; it probably holds corrections of your current version’s detected breaches.
2. Don’t download applications outside official stores: the App Store and Google Play Store provide a first level evaluation of the apps they release to their users, it’s not the case of third party stores. A great part of the applications available on those last ones are malwares.
3. Verify applications’ permissions: Asked permissions should be consistent with the app’s purpose. For example, a photo retouching app shouldn’t have access to your microphone.
4. Don’t do sensitive operations through open networks: You have to transfer money to an important supplier’s bank account? Doing so during your lunch break while connected to the restaurant’s Wi-Fi might expose you to an attack such as man-in-the-middle. You should wait to be connected to a secured network.
5. Don’t root / jailbreak your device: A “cracked” device gives an easier access to the information it contains and increases its vulnerability.
6. Get a security solution that assures apps legitimacy and protects from “zero-day” attacks.
See how to build self-protective apps
