Tag: security mobile

According to a recent report, device users aren’t necessarily confident in this form of storage.

Cyber and mobile security and app delivery solutions firm, Radware, has recently released a report called “Mobile Application Security: Consumer Perspectives and Organizational Implications,” in which it was revealed that the cloud isn’t exactly eliciting feelings of confidence from consumers.

Harris Poll conducted the online survey on behalf of Radware and involved the participation of 2,000 American consumers.

The survey was geared toward the opinions of adults in the United States with regards to the mobile security of cloud-based apps and service and the way they’re used. It was determined that it is not uncommon for consumers to be unaware of the fact that many of the mobile apps they use on a regular basis are dependent on the cloud. This means that they are also unaware of the potential threat they face to their personal information if the cloud storage was ever breached.

This lack of understanding of mobile security could be considered troubling simply because it may reduce protection efforts.

Among the participants in the study, 67 percent said that they were not using cloud-based mobile apps. That said, applications that use the cloud are rapidly growing in their popularity and usage. At the same time, 87 percent of Americans feel that cloud based apps are at risk of being hacked. Another 58 percent of cloud based service or application users said that they were concerned about the safety of their personal data if those apps or services should ever experience a cyber attack.

According to Radware director of security solutions marketing, Ben Desjardins, “Data breaches and hacks are not only on the rise, they are becoming commonplace.” He added that “At the same time, cloud-based apps are booming, offering convenient ways to expedite and simplify daily needs from ordering a meal to requesting a car with the tap of a finger.”

Desjardins explained that the majority of consumers don’t actually understand their relationship with cloud based applications. Therefore, it will be up to the companies that are working to engage with mobile device users by way of those applications to bear the burden of mobile security education as well as of remediation if they should ever experience a cyber attack in which any personal information could be threatened.

As a rising number of people use their smartphones to make purchases, cyber criminals will up their efforts, too.

According to the results of a recent survey, most cyber security experts (87 percent) now feel that as mobile payments become more popular over the next 12 months, it will also bring about a rise in the number of associated data breaches.

Equally, 42 percent of surveyed cyber security experts had also already used that transaction method this year.

The survey involved the participation of 900 experts in cyber security. It was conducted by ISACA and it suggested that mobile payments are likely to progress without any real barrier from security concerns. Among the respondents to this survey, only 23 percent said that they felt that smartphone payments were actually a safe way to store personal information. Another 47 percent said that they felt that this type of transaction is entirely unsecure. An additional 30 percent of respondents said that they were unsure as to whether or not the transactions were secure.

Regardless of the risk that is associated with security, it looks as though mobile payments are moving ahead.

Nearly 89 percent felt that cash remains the most secure way for payments transactions to be completed, today. That said, only 9 percent of the respondents said that this was their preferred method of payment.

The ISACA survey participants were asked to provide their opinions with regards to the types of vulnerabilities that could be associated with using smartphones to complete payments transactions. Among them, the mobile security concerns that were identified were:

• WiFi – 26 percent
• Loss or theft of the smartphone – 21 percent
• Shmishing (text message phishing)/phishing – 18 percent
• Weak password protection – 13 percent
• User/human error – 7 percent

The report also indicated that mobile payments based on contactless and NFC technology will be continuing their growth. As a whole, the marketplace for these transactions is predicted by Future Market Insights to be worth $2.8 trillion in five years. The cyber security experts felt that the best way to boost the security of the transactions is to use two authentication methods (66 percent) and to require a short-term authentication code (18 percent).