Category: Featured News

Mobile security issues are still threatening smartphone banking

| November 6, 2015

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.

Mobile Security - Mobile BankingFor 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.

Jawbone and BaubleBar plan to make new wearables together

| November 5, 2015

The device will be in the form of a bracelet that will come in three different styles for the Up Move tracker.

Jawbone and BaubleBar have announced that they will be partnering up in the launch of a collection of bracelet wearables that will be adding three new styles to this sector of the technology marketplace.

Jewelry design and tech companies are joining forces on an increasing basis to make wearable technology device.

The two were initially brought together for an introduction through a mutual investor, Chris Burch. As a result, BaubleBar’s design team created three different bracelet styles in which to house the Up Move tracker from Jawbone. That device has been designed to track the calorie burning, overall activity and sleep patterns of the wearer. The bracelets all have a watch-like look with a square face in order to make it possible for them to actually contain the wearables. That said, they are decked out with crystals or studs.

The three different wearables are called the “Salsa”, the “Disco” and the “Tango and come in two colors.

wearable technology - partnershipAccording to Daniella Yacobovsky, the co-founder of BaubleBar, “The bracelets are made with metals and crystals and are infused with colors that act as really beautiful neutrals. You can mix and match depending on what your needs are.”

Jawbone will be selling the results of its collaboration with BaubleBar, online. The price of the wearable technology bracelets ranges from $45 (for the bracelet itself without the actual Jawbone Up Move gadget), to $85 which includes both the bracelet and the fitness tracker.

While BaubleBar has made it clear that wearables are making their way into the brand’s collections and that they will be a part of the life of the brand’s customers, “we do not making wearable technology,” said Yacobovsky. She explained that their design team “makes beautiful accessories” and that is at the very heart of what they do, but that they are not a tech development company and that is not a direction that they intend to take, for the moment. Instead, they are seeing an opportunity in working in partnerships with Jawbone to extend the type of product that they already provide.