Completing a day’s work and being tied to your office and desk are definitely a thing of the past.
More and more business transactions are being completed on the move, which brings in to question the security of mobile devices used for business purposes. With the rapid rise of BYOD, many organisations don’t even own the devices their sensitive is stored on.
This significantly increases the risk of commercially sensitive information being accessed or compromised.
Check Point Research recently discovered a new variant of mobile malware which has quietly infected around 25 million devices, including 15 million mobile devices in India and other Asian countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. However, there have also been a number of infected devices in the UK, Australia and United States.
Disguised as a Google-related application, the malware exploits known Android vulnerabilities and automatically replaces installed apps with malicious versions without users’ knowledge or interaction. One such app to be affected by this malware is the world’s most popular messaging app; WhatsApp.
Jonathan Shimonovich, Head of Mobile Threat Detection Research at Check Point Software Technologies says “The malware nicknamed “Agent Smith” attacks user-installed applications silently, making it challenging for common Android users to combat such threats on their own”.
As for protecting against these attacks, Mr Shimonovich goes on to say that “Combining advanced threat prevention and threat intelligence while adopting a ‘hygiene first’ approach to safeguard digital assets is the best protection against invasive mobile malware attacks like “Agent Smith”. In addition, users should only be downloading apps from trusted app stores to mitigate the risk of infection as third party app stores often lack the security measures required to block adware loaded apps.”
Sean Allison, Managing Director at Askaris stated, “Here at Askaris we specialise in the very best of breed security products to protect your network. Mobile phones are often the most overlooked extension of your corporate network, and also one of the most exposed entry points. They contain emails and other highly sensitive corporate data, as well as often a myriad of games for your kids entertainment. For that reason, we recommend using Check Point Sandblast Mobile to protect against threats to the phone’s Operating System, apps, and network with the industry’s highest threat catch rate, and all without impacting performance or user experience. ”
For further information on Sandblast Mobile contact info@askaris.com or speak to one of our security specialists on 01642 918960
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