Ep 203 Dangers that Lurk inside Your Phone

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We have all heard that the phones we carry around have more computing power than was used in the Apollo moon mission. Breaking news: these powerful devices in our pockets are vulnerable to attacks of which we cannot dream.

We can just pick up our phones and read the headlines. Brian Krebs reports federal charges against SMS attacks, Salt Typhoon getting into our phone systems, even the FBI telling us to use encryption on our phones.

Today, we sat down with Jim Coyle from Lookout to unpack the concept of mobile threats. He begins with some startling facts. For example, Jim Coyle states that over half the movable devices in a recent study did not have an up-to-date operating system.

One simple proof-of-concept is with a malicious URL. On a desktop, one can hoover over a URL to see where it is taking you; a credible URL will be clicked on a phone device with no questions asked.

There are other entries as well. For example, what happens when a company with a legitimate app gets bought out by a malicious actor? It is possible for them to have an open door to your phone.

The good news – a lot of mobile malwares will not survive a reboot. The lesson: every night plug in your phone, turn it off and on.