Mobile Phone Security

It’s coming people.  Like a tornado, selecting its victims at random, destroying lives and homes.  What is it, you ask?  Viruses and Malware on your handheld devices. As if we don’t have enough to worry about with viruses on our computers, now we have yet another concern.  A recent attack on Android phones allowed hackers to remotely instruct the phone to send SMS text messages that cost $5 each, driving up the user’s phone bill and putting cash in the hackers pockets.  The Android users had downloaded a “free” movie player, and the exploit was installed in the background. The “movie app” was downloaded from an outside website not affiliated with Google’s Android Marketplace. Another scam does not send out pricey text messages, but rather, instructs the phone to dial an international number using a specific carrier.  The call is generally only made once a month, in the middle of the night, and most victims did not notice the charges for a few months. So how can we protect ourselves from these malware attacks? Only download apps from an official source. Be wary of texts instructing you to download “updates” to your phone’s operating system. Watch your bills closely.