Viruses and hacking of personal information was once only related to internet, PCs and laptops. But as times have changed security threats are now to be found on mobile devices as well. Soon the time will come when people using cell phones will equally face the similar problems related to viruses and malwares that they once used to face over the internet or PCs. The news was disclosed at two major conferences held in Las Vegas.
The security issues and virus threats all boil down to the fact that jail breaking for cellphones is becoming common. One such website known as JailbreakMe disables the security protections in the iPhone; this may lead to possible vulnerability that may results in the leakage of personal information which may be used for illegal activities. Although jailbreaking at this website is so simple that all one needs to do is log onto this website on iPhone and click a button which breaks the security architecture but all this ease compromises user’s privacy.
Though the JailbreakMe website and the process of jail-breaking is as such not harmful and does not harm the mobile device or the data. But the criminals and hackers out there on the virtual cloud may exploit the technique used to perform jailbreaking on this website.
Sandboxing is a technology known to be found in smart phones that helps in security and prevents any control from attackers. Jailbreaking through JailbreakMe makes sandboxing disabled, thus posing a threat to the device. Rootkit is what that provides the attackers with the control over a device. Once a rootkit is installed onto a device the hacker gets complete control of the system. The researchers have been unable to find out the procedure through which an attacker gets it installed on a device but they do have disclosed the effects it can cause. Once rootkit is installed the attacker can make phone calls from the iPhone without the user even being aware of it.
Nowadays even the mobile networks are vulnerable to malicious malwares that could allow tracking the network user’s location through the database. Hacking of personal information from mobile devices and other such security issues are relatively new and thus, not much safety measures and procedures are available as yet. But it is expected that with time the network operators will come up with better and stronger encryptions.
[via Technology Review]
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