Cybercrimes have been on the rise since the birth of the internet. As we rely more and more on modern technology and cellular devices, our vulnerability to cyber-attacks increases proportionally. Every day hackers and cybercriminals are inventing new ways of introducing malicious software into our personal computers or smart devices.
mobile app security threat

Credit: Legalbilisim

Web threats are unfortunately no longer restricted to just personal computers.It has been less than a decade since smartphones and the later tablets became widespread among the masses, yet there has been rapid development in this field. The Android and Apple stores boast millions of apps, which increase by tens of thousands every month. However, quality control is not always guaranteed as a lot of these apps come with bugs or performance issues. Some are actually designed with secretly implanted spyware or malware that exploits the weaknesses in your phone’s operating system. They can share your personal data such as your communications or saved documents with a third party, record your keystrokes thereby revealing your passwords or pin numbers to spies, or upload viruses to your phone.

Mobile apps have attracted immense popularity among smartphone users. Since more and more developers are engaged in designing and marketing new software, there is an ongoing race to create apps with the most impressive and user-friendly features. Apps are needed for almost everything a smartphone is capable of doing, from making simple calculations to writing down notes, watching videos, playing games, web browsing, social interaction, voice chatting, etc. There are hundreds of different applications designed for each of these functions, many of them being low quality freeware that is hardly used by anyone.

Owing to the unrestricted growth of this industry, security checks have not been given due consideration. With the increased availability and usage of smartphones and massively growing numbers of apps, the latter have been a new and easy target for cybercriminals. Apart from the apps that can be downloaded from the official Android and Apple online stores, there are many third party websites selling apps that can only be installed on ‘rooted’ Android devices or ‘jailbroken’ iPhones or iPads. These third-party sites often sell pirated apps that can potentially damage your mobile operating system