Author: JT

Trojans and other threats continue to be a serious concern when it comes to money matters over cell phones.

Kaspersky Lab, the online and mobile security company, has now released its most recent quarterly report on its analysis of the evolution of threats that consumers were facing during the third quarter of 2015.

The analysis involved the detection of more than 300,000 new mobile malware programs.

That considerable figure represented an increase of 10.8 percent over the number of threatening mobile security programs that were detected in the second quarter. The primary technique that was used in order to profit from the mobile threats was the display of intrusive ads to consumers on their smartphones and tablets. Adware has seen a growing trend over the mobile channel and in this most recent report, it represented over half of all threats that were detected for these devices during the third quarter.

The report also described the different types of mobile security attack methods most commonly used.

For instance, some types of mobile cyber attack involve the use of super-user privileges (that is, root access) in order to hide the fact that they are present within the systems folder. This makes them much tougher to spot and overcome. At the same time, the report noted that the number of SMS Trojans have been falling. In fact, during the third quarter, they made up only 6.2 percent of the threats that were detected.

Though mobile banking threats had seen somewhat of a reduction, they remain a serious concern. During the second quarter, there had been 5.9 million notifications, whereas the third quarter saw 5.68 million notifications. The decrease was definitely there, but at the same time, it was not great enough to be able to say that the problem is any less serious.

Kaspersky Lab Solutions reported blocking nearly 636,000 attempts to launch types of mobile security threats such as malware that would be able to steal money by way of the device user’s online banking. That figure was 17.2 percent smaller than it had been the quarter beforehand. Mobile banking Trojans were most likely to occur in Austria.

Study shows that Apple Pay continues to struggle to find a foothold with consumers

Relatively few people are using Apple’s new mobile payments service, called Apple Pay, according to a new study from Trustev. Apple released its mobile payments service earlier this year, with the backing of several large retailers and banks. In the United States, the service has struggled to find a foothold among consumers, as they appear to favor other payment services that were also recently released in the country. As a market, mobile payments continues to grow in the U.S., with more consumers favoring paying for products with their smartphones and tablets.

Digital wallets are gaining popularity among consumers

Many mobile payment services operate in the same manner, serving as a form of digital wallet that can store information from consumers and retailers. Digital wallets have become very attractive to consumers because they provide a convenient way to purchase products. A growing number of retailers are beginning to support mobile payments in their physical stores and these digital wallets are becoming quite important to consumers.

20% of iOS users are making use of Apple Pay

According to the study from Trustev, only 20% of people participating in mobile payments in the United States are using Apple Pay. Of those using Apple Pay, 56% have reported that they have used the service once during a typical week. Another 15.3% say they have never used it during their week. While few people may be using Apple Pay, fewer are using other services provided by Google and Samsung. All of these services have been competing for the attention of consumers, but they have struggled to find a foothold with mobile shoppers.

Apple Pay may continue to struggle to find support among consumers

One of the challenges that Apple Pay faces is that it is only available to a very small portion of society. The service can only be used by those with the latest iPhones. While the device has proven to be quite popular among Apple fans, relatively few people have the latest edition of the company’s flagship smartphone.