Category: Mobile Security

Security firms highlight spike in malware targeting Android

Android is one of the most popular smart phone platforms in the world. Tech-savvy consumers praise Android for its variety of features and ease of use, but consumers are not the only ones interested in the platform. According to two firms specializing in mobile security — Eset and Lookout Mobile Security –, Android has become rampantly popular among hackers. These hackers are expected to put a great deal of attention on the Android platform in 2013, introducing a veritable tide of new malware that specifically targets the operating system.

Hackers target Android as operating system becomes more capable of mobile commerce

Google’s Android operating system is among the most powerful and widely used in the world. As such, it is often the subject of interest among hackers who are keen on exploiting the information found on Android mobile devices. Over the years, malware has become more sophisticated in order to adapt to the changes being made to the Android platform. While activity in the hacking community remains high, mobile security firms expect hacking activity to spike in the coming year as Android devices become more popular and capable of participating in mobile commerce.

18 million users expected to fall victim to malware

Lookout Mobile Security predicts that some 18 million Android users throughout the world will have their device affected by malware of some kind. Consumers outside of the U.S. are expected to encounter malware more frequently than those within the U.S. This may be due to the fact that most major hacking groups are located outside of the U.S. in order to avoid some of the harsh penalties the U.S. government has in place to deter hackers.

Mobile security to become a major issue in 2013

While 18 million is certainly a high number, Robert Nelson of Android Community suggests that this number is small when compared to the total number of consumers with Android mobile devices. Nonetheless, mobile security is expected to be a major concern for Android consumers in the coming year. There are various applications that consumers can download to help protect their devices from exploitation, however, and these applications are likely to become more capable as hackers attempt to adopt more sophisticated methods of breaching Android security.

Tiny, microscopic particles make up invisible labels to track and prevent counterfeit products.

The spotlight has been on QR codes in terms of extreme sizes lately, as records are being broken both on the large and small ends of the scale.

Microscopic barcodes are being used as labels to protect against and track counterfeit goods.

The tiny labels are called microtaggants, and they cannot be seen by the naked eye. They are particles which are used for identification on a microscopic level, so that counterfeit goods can either be prevented or tracked. Though there are many different methods that have been used for this process, it now involves the use of QR codes that are small enough to fit in an area as wide as 80 microns – which is about half a human hair’s diameter.

These QR codes may be small, but they were not able to break the current size record.

Though these QR codes on microtaggants may be exceptionally tiny, and are among the smallest in the world, they have not broken the current record. Instead, Trinity College scientists in Dublin, Ireland were able to achieve that goal earlier this year.

Mircrotaggants, which are the labels that hold the tiny QR codes, are a Microtrace LLC registered trademark. This company specializes in technology to battle counterfeiting on a microscopic level. Using the quick response barcodes is only the latest among many innovations that the company has introduced.

QR codes are seen as beneficial for this purpose because they are capable of holding a great deal more information than other types of these microscopic labels. The barcode can be scanned so that this additional data can be provided.

This anti-counterfeiting development with microscopic QR codes were the result of the work of Korean University professors named S. Kwon and W. Park. They and their teams formed these particle based barcodes which were described in their recently published paper that outlined the process. The most recent edition of the journal Advanced Materials (volume 24) included the report, called “Lithographically Encoded Polymer Microtaggant Using High-Capacity and Error-Correctable QR Code for Anti-Counterfeiting of Drugs”, which received added recognition through a cover image.