Mobile Phone Security The cell phone and smart phone industry have rapidly developed in the United States and across the world. The days of the phone being used as simply a voice device has come and gone. Today each cell phone has become a small PC in the pocket of each person. Though the public may remember the basic rules of security when using their home PC’s, they quickly forget that the same risks apply to there cell phones as well. The apple IPhone has set a new standard as to who is using the new generation of smart phones as well as redefining the applications that will be run on the device. Currently some of the most prolific transport methods for malware (instant messaging, IP network traffic, web browsers, and email attachments) have made there way to the common user on a mobile platform. Many of these same applications had been available previously on smart phones and on windows mobile, but the mainstream user base had not adopted the technology. Now the IPhone has ushered in a much more seamless interface that has allowed even the common user to be able to quickly load and use applications, as well as use instant messaging and social media sites through the phone. As the user base grows, so will the number of threats posed against it. The New Threats Though many of the following threats have been well established with the workstation community, they are now beginning to be transferred to the smart phone market. Since the methods have been highly perfected over the history of the workstation, rapid development of such applications is possible. Bluetooth Many users continue to leave the Bluetooth enabled on their smart phones even when not in use. Unfortunately many phones still use a simple 4 digit sequence of zero’s for the security password when pairing. Perhaps phone manufacturers should force users to set customized the password as soon as the phone is initialized. In addition the underlying security of the Bluetooth implementation can cause a severe issue. This was exploited by the Bluetooth worm Cabir to a reasonable effectiveness. Though the usage of Bluetooth technology has not proven to be the fastest method of transferring a worm, it will none the less still be effective. Malicious Software Malicious software must use some sort of transport to copy itself from source to destination. Early versions of such software relied on machines scanning local network subnets to find vulnerable hosts. ISP’s and network administrators quickly adapted to the threat and instituted network based prevention methods and software firewalls located on user PC’s. Now smart phones can easily utilize the same wireless networks that laptops use which increases the opportunities for such delivery methods to be effective. To combat this option many cell device use built in firewalls to prevent access to the ports of the device, the blackberry is one such example. Yet, just as users disable these features on there home PC’s we will see them disable the same features on their cell phones. Instant Messaging Instant messaging based attacks will also be on the horizon. As the higher percentage of users sign onto their instant messaging account from their smart phones, the creation of such mobile IM exploits will increase. A user may be signed into their IM accounts for a the time period that they are home, but now the prospective time period is much longer with phones and IM accounts being logged in for 24 hours. The longer any system is connected to a network the higher the chance the system will be compromised. On the PC platform we have consumer anti-virus and consumer IDS systems. On the mobile platform we are just beginning to see such products hitting the shelves. The effectiveness and consumer acceptance of such applications has yet to be determined. Attachments Unsigned file installations will become an issue fairly quickly as social media and email attachments become more prevalent through the mobile community. Many people currently do not open attachments because the experience has been so poor. This has limited such a delivery methods from becoming effective. Now users will begin to share media files much more prevalently. As it becomes common place to open and run such files either from friends or strangers across a social media site, the number of malicious users targeting by this mode will increase. Virus and email scanning software currently provides protection from these threats on a pc and only now are we watching such application becoming ported to the smart phone. Will a smart phone have enough resources to run such software in the background of the device without altering the performance of the phone to much? Spyware The cell phone is in many cases the perfect method of direct advertising. People are trained to instinctively pay attention to the device if it is ringing or anytime a text message comes through. This guarantees a few moments of direct attention from a user. How distracting would it become as our phones began to periodically inform us of new products through the mobile equivalent of a popup, either by vibrating or sending an audible ring to our Bluetooth ear piece. As users begin to explore more of the mobile web the opportunities for infection will increase. Prevention Road Blocks Patching and Security Updates Currently we are in a similar situation to early pc usage. Smart phones do not use auto update functionality for both patches and firmware. At this point in PC history it proved to be a security issue since many users will never take the time to update the system. Smart phones will begin to need an update site such as Windows Live Updates to encourage users to quickly and easily update there phones. Non Tethered OS Updates Many phones require the device to be connected to a host system to have Operating system updates applied. Most users will not use this functionality and hence the operating system will never be updated. Improvements must be mad to the distribution model. All smart phones must be able to utilize an over the air update feature to allow users to update the software with out connecting to a host system. Processor Speed Either anti-malware software will have to be greatly streamlined or phones will need to have a much more powerful processor to allow for background applications to be run. If the anti-malware software reduces how quick the system responds users will not utilize the software. Users have become accustomed to waiting for a short period of time before a application loads on a PC, but applications must instantly open on smart phone to keep users satisfied. Though the future of security on smart phones has many road blocks, the demand for the phones and a more PC like experience on them will drive the market for more advanced security applications. This is an exciting time and I can’t wait to see what is developed. (с) governmentsecurity.org
