21st Century Learning and Teaching

Der sorglose Umgang der Mitarbeiter mit mobiler Technologie gehört laut IDC neben Malware und Phishing-Attacken zu den häufigsten Risiken beim Thema Mobile Security in Unternehmen.

The number of bad bots has grown exponentially in recent years, driving poor internet performance for individuals and the loss of control over connected devices; wholesale theft of online intellectual property, content and data; unnecessarily high bandwidth fees; and compromised websites that are otherwise key to mission-critical functions. In fact, bad bots almost doubled as a percentage of all web traffic over the course of 2013, from 12.25% to 23.6%. And the number of mobile bots is up a staggering 1,000%.

Learn more:

- https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/bring-your-own-device-advantages-dangers-and-risks/

- http://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?tag=Botnet

- http://www.scoop.it/t/securite-pc-et-internet/?tag=Mobile+Security

A shake-up is coming to the mobile security industry, and it will happen when Google begins to secure its Android environment, David Duncan, CMO of Webroot, says.

When you look at most of the mobile apps, you accept the application and its privileges settings, and there is very little ability for you to customise those settings, so you either agree or disagree.

App developers are trying to monetise their apps, because remember, most of these are being sold for $1.99 or they're free, so the only way that they are going to make money is collecting and harvesting data, and selling it to a data house, who in turn is going to sell it to advertisers.

Learn more:

- http://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/often-asked-questions-are-there-cyber-security-dangers-with-apps-and-whats-about-privacy/

- http://www.scoop.it/t/apps-for-any-use-mostly-for-education-and-free

Distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack protection solutions provider Prolexic has published its Global DDOS Attack Report for the fourth quarter ...

“The prevalence of mobile devices and the widespread availability of downloadable apps that can be used for DDoS is a game changer,” explained Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic. 

Malicious actors now carry a powerful attack tool in the palm of their hands, which requires minimal skill to use. Because it is so easy for mobile device users to opt-in to DDoS attack campaigns, we expect to see a considerable increase in the use of these attack tools in 2014,” Scholly added.

There has been a veritable parade of headlines and news stories in even the mainstream consumer press about the increasing security risk presented by smartphones – a.k.a. the small yet powerful computers that most of us carry around in our pockets.

===> Trend Micro recently released data showing that there will be more than one million malware variants in the market by the end of this year.  <===

Up to now, mobile malware were certainly growing, but still minor compared to PC malware. Well, this is about to change. We have recently acknowledged a mobile malware getting in our top 10 virus activity, where usually there were only PC malware. The (sad) winner is Android/Plankton.B!tr, with a record prevalence of 4.42% (note: prevalence is the number of new hits in a given time frame divided by the number of fortigates reporting during that same interval of time).

This would currently rank it as the 6th most active virus - PC malware included. Actually, Plankton (also known as Counterclank and NewyearL) is a very intrusive form of advertisement which changes your browser’s home page, adds bookmarks, shortcuts or records your search queries. Some other AV vendors classify it as an adware, anyway, what’s for sure is that end-users won’t want it on their phones… and the fact is that it is more and more wide spread…

===> This definitely is a new milestone in mobile malware’s history. I take the opportunity to draw your attention on the mobile world. <===

Security researchers have discovered a vulnerability that could allow attackers to take full control of most Android smartphones

The vulnerability allows hackers to modify an app without breaking its cryptographic signature, according to Jeff Forristal, chief technology officer (CTO) at mobile security firm Bluebox.

Fake antivirus, also called scareware, is a well-known Windows problem. Symantec researchers have found fake antivirus aimed at Android devices, and it's even nastier.

There are some surprising numbers available that tell a dark story about mobile apps and what they can be doing on your device.

By now you've read about malicious apps that leak privacy data, but do you realize how serious it really is? If not, you'd better pay attention to the following statistics gathered by Symantec*. And if you think that Google Play is 100% safe, it isn't. I have some data that yields some shocking results about the number of malicious apps waiting to grab your data.

===> Unfortunately, the playing surface for Internet naughtiness has changed in the past couple of years and you need to know that it's only getting worse. <===

Here are some resolutions you can easily keep, and you will be glad you did! Our 5-point checklist to help you make essential improvements to your mobile security in 2014.

With the threat already in ads, are mobile users left vulnerable to attacks?

Though developers need to be very careful installing ad networks in their apps, users can still protect themselves by

===> making sure that the Android system setting ‘Unknown sources’ is unchecked to prevent dropped or drive-by-download app installs and installing security apps like Lookout to as their first line of defense against malware. <===

Security firm Cenzic said it found serious mobile application vulnerabilities, such as dangerous Web service errors, in an analysis of the mobile apps it reviewed in 2012.

An analysis of the thousands of applications reviewed by Web application security firm Cenzic found serious lapses in judgment resulting in gaping holes that could be used by an attacker to siphon off sensitive data from smartphone and tablet owners.