Author: Lucy

Mobile security shaky at Snapchat, again

| February 3, 2014

Experts are saying that the popular photo sharing app is experiencing a lacking in privacy protection.

According to the complaints of a number of experts regarding the Snapchat app, the level of mobile security behind the application is greatly inadequate for protecting the privacy of its users.Mobile Security - Mobile Apps

Some now feel that the mobile app development team behind the app lacks the necessary understanding.

Among the most recent steps that the company has taken toward improving mobile security includes last week’s introduction of a CAPTCHA code verification. This is designed to help to ensure that all new subscribers are humans and not computer programs. It is important to avoid computer created accounts as these are common methods used by cybercriminals for the distribution of spam or to discover ways to grab personal information from other users of these types of mobile apps.

While the number of fake accounts may be reduced, it doesn’t mean that the mobile security is strong.

Although the CAPTCHA techniques can shrink the number of fake accounts that a service experiences, a graduate research assistant from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Steven Hickson, was able to easily hack into Snapchat despite its latest upgrades.

The CAPTCHA implementation at Snapchat was weak to the point that Hickson required under an hour on the mobile development of a computer program that would be able to trick the system with “100 percent accuracy”. Hickson explained that “They’re a very, very new company and I think they’re just lacking the personnel to do this kind of thing.”

In order to make sure that the potential user of the service is a human, the system selected by Snapchat involves having to choose the white ghost mascot of the company from among nine illustrations. Unfortunately, only the size and angle of the correct image is altered, making it simple for a computer to be able to recognize.

In order to stop a CAPTCHA mobile security system from being hacked, Hickson explained that “you want something that has a lot of variety in the answer,” adding that you essentially want one correct answer, but a vast array of different incorrect answers. This needs to be too complex for a computer to be able to solve while being quite obvious to a human.

Mobile marketing budget slashed at Samsung

| January 28, 2014

The largest smartphone manufacturer in the world won’t be spending as much marketing over that channel.

It has recently been revealed that Samsung Electronics, the biggest smartphone maker on the globe, has decided that it won’t be spending as much money on mobile marketing throughout 2014.Mobile Marketing - Budget Cutting

This decision has come as a surprise to some as mobile devices are a primary focus of the company.

The reason that was given for cutting back on the mobile marketing budget at Samsung, this year, is that the company plans to reduce that spending in a way that directly reflects its revenues. This, following a massive amount of spending during the fourth quarter during its tremendous promotional campaigns throughout the hot holiday shopping season.

That said, this doesn’t meant that Samsung will be ceasing its mobile marketing, only cutting is budget.

There are other advertising and promotional opportunities that are specifically being leveraged at the moment and that are cutting into the overall budget of the company. For that reason, some changes needed to be made this year to carry them through based on the revenues that are expected throughout that time.

For instance, according to Kim Hyunjoon, the senior vice president at Samsung, the company plans to “actively leverage global sports events such as the Sochi (Winter) Olympics” as well as their channels through retail. However, at the same time, they are working to “try to raise the efficiency of our marketing spend and lower our overall mobile marketing budget to revenue this year compared with last year.”

Kim Hyunjoon made this announcement to analysts as Samsung was releasing its earnings figures. Last year, the company had run a number of exceptionally large campaigns, particularly in the last part of the year. This came as a part of a number of different strategies and often coincided with the launches of a series of new types of mobile devices and gadgets that the company has to offer.

The company does intend to continue with a mobile marketing strategy this year and will maintain its reflection of the earnings it plans to bring in through 2014.