Along with the tremendous increase in popularity among smartphones, it was only a matter of time until cyber-attacks will target the handy little devices more than ever. Only PC users were used to malware attacks, but don’t be surprised if in the near future, smartphones will deal with the same amount of threats!
According to ZDNet.com, there’s a new massive surge in cyber attacks targeting smartphones that all of us should be aware of. Caution is usually a good option, and it seems to be especially available when it comes to those little devices that we all love!
Beware of a surge in mobile cyberattacks that’s 5 times stronger
Cybersecurity researchers from Proofpoint are now warning us that a recent surge of powerful cyberattacks is about 5 times higher than expected. They aim to disrupt the victims’ smartphones, taking full control of the devices or just stealing passwords and other personal info.
Jacinta Tobin, who is vice president of Cloudmark operations for Proofpoint, stated as ZDNet.com quotes:
Consumers need to be very skeptical of mobile messages that come from unknown sources. And it’s important to never click on links in text messages, no matter how realistic they look. If you want to contact the purported vendor sending you a link, do so directly through their website and always manually enter the web address/URL,
It’s also vital that you don’t respond to strange texts or texts from unknown sources. Doing so will often confirm you’re a real person to future scammers.
Perhaps most people rely on antivirus software to do everything for them when it comes to cybersecurity, which is not exactly the best way of thinking in this case. Even though having an antivirus installed on your phone is a great move, human vigilance is better than anything else, in our view.