The Dangerous Wave Of Mobile Threats

The pervasive use of mobile devices today has made mobile security a key concern. With the push for remote working accelerated by the pandemic, employees are increasingly accessing corporate data from their mobile devices, making organisations’ data more vulnerable to breaches. Over the past few months, researchers at Check Point have been observing an enormous rise in the number of attacks and data breaches that are coming in through the mobile.

- 

01 FAKE COVID-19 RELATED MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Since the very beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, we have seen an uptick in the number of fake COVID-19 related applications being created. Skilled threat actors have been exploiting concerns about the virus and using it to spread malware. Some of the mobile malware include Mobile Remote Access Trojans (MRATs), Banker Trojans, and Premium Dialers that spread through apps that claim to offer coronavirus-related information and help.

These apps contain a range of malware focused on stealing users’ sensitive information or generating fraudulent revenues from premium-rate services. It is important to note that none of the malicious apps were available through an official app store.

Experts strongly recommend that organisations communicate this danger to its mobile workforce. Since most of us access corporate emails and other company assets from our mobile devices, an info-stealer installed on the device that steals credentials could be the starting point of an attack on the corporate network.

Organisations must take steps to ensure that employees do not download any app that does not come from a legitimate source.

02 THE MOBILE DEVICE