CE Pro May 2023 - 54

SECURITY | Mobile Device Cybersecurity
MORE THAN 90% of U.S. citizens aged 16 to 60 have
smartphones. These aren't the third generation of
flip-phones but highly intuitive models from Apple, Google,
Samsung, Motorola, Nokia and other brands. These complex,
innovative, multipurpose and flexible mobile devices are
irreplaceable in our business and personal lives, yet the risk
to privacy, health and national security has created critical
consequences to our public safety like never before.
We now must adapt to new challenges that require us to
have a greater level of understanding of how to ensure your
mobile devices are safe and secure to protect yourself, your
family, your clients and your business from being the victim of
mobile device attack and exploitation.
Today's smartphones are used for almost anything and
everything other than conversations. We use our phones
for entertainment, games, taking photos and selfies, banking
apps, texting and finding locations using GPS systems. Companies
that still allow employees to use personal phones in
corporate environments (Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD)
expose themselves to a multitude of risks, like corporate
espionage, data exfiltration and ransomware.
According to Paldesk, U.S. smartphone users send and reDealing
With
Malicious
Mobile
Devices
New
and emerging hacking
tools and exploits targeting
mobile devices present
challenges to systems
integrators and their clients.
Learn tactics to topple these
vulnerabilities.
By Darnell Washington
54 | CE Pro May 2023
ceive five times more texts than phone calls. This opens the
door for increased human error in accepting malicious downloads,
agreement of terms and conditions from malformed
text hyperlinks, and manipulation of configuration settings
on mobile phones. New legislation requiring cyber breach
notification on a national level is expected this year.
Meanwhile, recent legislation requiring federal agencies
and corporations to report cyber breaches has created a
new age of what must be done to protect mobile devices.
Healthcare applications that are used within smartphone
devices will likely require much more stringent regulations
from the FDA as they begin to classify smartphones as " medical
devices. "
The landscape is also changing as we evolve from talk, text
and web as the primary services offered by our smartphones
and mobile devices. We now have integrated sensors that
detect motion, environment (temperature, humidity) and position.
We also have more complex integrations with applications
used for medical diagnostics (blood pressure, diabetes
treatments, treatment monitoring) further highlighting how
the need for increased security on mobile devices has never
been more critical.
Without greater education and focus on mobile device
security, cyber attackers will continue to have myriad tools
that capture exploitable data that will ultimately lead to cyberbreach
and loss of personal information. That encompasses
stored passwords, photos, emails, files and account information.
Also, network credentials that enable privileged access to
your company-owned and protected networks and systems
will be compromised, exploited and used for financial gain.
While users may trust the manufacturers of the phones
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CE Pro May 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CE Pro May 2023
