INTRODUCTION.

How vulnerable is the device people use to store expedient data? In 2016 Symantec

delved to highlight that there were 18.4 million mobile malware detected. In 2017, this peril

escalated by 30 percent thus endangering Android App Store users. These data paves way for

the questions , ‘’What is mobile security ? What are the merits and drawbacks of mobile

phone users incorporating a measure to safeguard their details and private information? To

what extent does it affect our daily lives?’’ This document takes into account these questions

and discusses them at a profound level.

Mobile security is an evolving application in this century. It entails the safeguarding of

portable computing devices such as smartphones,smartwatches and tablets including the

networks they connect to, from potential malware. Security threats in this context are

ubiquitous. These threats are forms of malicious software and spyware with the ability to

access a mobile device’s data with the owner oblivious to this activity. Examples of these

malicious codes include viruses, trojan horses, spyware, and adware. Has your phone ever

detected a virus and you wonder how it got infected? The following actions could ultimately

lead to a phone getting infected: use of unprotected Wi-Fi network,phishing scams which

involves clicking a malicious link while using email, installing of malicious applications,

network spoofing, hackers accessing the phone through spyware and lastly bluetooth

vulnerabilities. It is of esssence to understand the developing mobile security programmes

currently in the market.

In the world of computer programming, various methods have been modelled to act as

negators to mobile phone security threats. The use of passwords is a common trend, with an

antiquity of 50 years. Personal identification numbers (PIN) are also renowned for securing

mobile data especially by telecommunication agencies. Many smartphone users are opening
up to the use of patterns to protect their phones. Though use of fingerprint sensors has flooded

the market recently, many have adapted it.The use of face recognition is also slowly creeping

into the market. It is of great importance to demistify how the aspect of mobile security has

explicated from the age of its introduction into the sphere of mobile device management

upto date.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION.

Fernando Corbato known as ,the father of modern computer password, incorporated

the idea in software engineering in 1960 while at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(MIT). In the 1970s computer science took a leaf from cryptology(welivesecurity.com).

Robert Morris Sr. developed ‘’hashing’’ the process by which texts ,are changed into

numerical codes encapsulating the original phase. This was intergrated by unix- like operating

system.

Cryptolinguistics is the mother of pattern recognition technology. Alice Kober is

remember for decipherment of Linear B dating back in the 1940s. It is now incorporated into

mobile security measures.Toshiba G500 and G900 are traced to be the first phones to feature

a fingerprint scanner. This was back in 2007. In 2011, Motorola Atrix was the first publicly

accessible device to encode a fingerprint sensor. iPhone 5s is attributed to be the first mobile

phone having a capacitative fingerprint sensor. Woody Blesdoe in 1964 pioneered facial

recognition technology. 53 years later iPhone X (10) was the first phone to feature its usage,

via the Apple.Inc at the World Wide Developer Conference. The history of these

contermeasures against mobile security threats are crucial in understanding how malware

developed.

The concept of mobile security is linked to the presence of mobile malware. June

2004, marks the date when the first virus was manufactured by ‘’29A’’, a group of virus
writers. They called it ‘Caribe’. It was designed to target the Symbian Operating system.It

proliferated via Bluetooth. This malicious code ,was categorized as Worm.SymbOS.Cabir. by

the Kaspersky Lab. Interestingly ,at the request of its authors , the virus was sent to antivirus

companies . Unfortunately ,the publication of its source code on the internet, breeded its

spread to telephones globally. Months after development of Worm.SymbOS.Cabir. other

types of mobile malware continued to emerge. An year later, Trojan.Symbos.Doombot

emerged to replace system applications, and install Comwar. Its vector being Operating

System vulnerability targeting once again, the Symbian Operating System.

The concept of hacking is vaguely understood by most individuals. It is crucial to

understand its history in order to employ the relevant ways to curb it. Massachusets Institute

of Technology, in 1960 originated the term ‘’hacker’’, where extremely skilled individuals

practiced hardcore programming in FORTRAN and other older languages

(helpnetsecurity.com) . In the 70s computer programming language ‘’C’’ was introduced by

Dennis Ritchie. At that period in time, ‘’phreakers’’, a group of mobile hackers came into

existence. They broke into phone networks making long distance calls. In the 80s, Robert

Morris, Jr.,deviced a worm on the ARPAnet to investigate its impact on UNIX systems. It

transmitted to 6000 computers, negatively interfering with government and university

systems. In 1999, anti-hacking products were invented by security software vendors. The

background information of the various aspects involving mobile security, is fundamental.

TYPES OF MALWARE.

A malware is the short form of ‘’malicious software’’ refering to programs that

permeate and damage a computer without the owner’s authorization. The pioneering writers

of malware designed it to improve the security of every Operating System they developed

nevertheless, the malicious code spread to computers. Mobile malware as the name suggests,
attacks mobile devices which includes tablets, smartwatches and smartphones. The difference

between malware and mobile malware is , malware is more prevalent unlike mobile malware.

It is crucial to have a gist of the types of malicous software attacking our phones.

A virus is technically defined as, a code that self replicates at a high speed, through

modifying other programs in a device and eventually corrupts the data. It infects itself to

files by attaching itself. A worm is a another type of mobile malware.It reproduces itself

through network, inserting itself from device to device. It does not require any user interface

to achieve this. It is transmitted through software vulnerabilities. Cabir worm is an example ,

that is characterized by displaying the message’’ Caribe’’ whenever the phone is switched

on.Being unscrupulously fooled, into doing something can be very taunting. This is exactly

what, trojan as a mobile malware does. It is often depicted as a legitimate software ,

disguising its true intent and upon its installation, it wreaks havoc in the device. By 2016, 2

billion phones were infected by Hummer Trojan. The fourth type of malware is a rootkit. It is

a clandestine program that accesses and surreptitiously modifies the operating system. It has

malicious tools like keyloggers, banking credential stealers, password stealers, antivirus

disablers and bots for DdoS attacks(quora.com). Criminals are now using botnets to gain

financial access to the many who use phones for transactions. The term ‘’botnet’’ is the short

form of robot network. It is a group of internet-connected devices that have been malware

infected. This paves way for the botnet creator to remotely control the infected devices which

are then termed as’’ zombies’’. As technology evolves, software engineers have tracked how

the aforementioned types of malware operate and spread.

VECTORS OF MALWARE

Propagation of viruses.
 Similar to an observed spreading pattern in the context of influenza (3, 6, 7), SARS

(8,9 ) and the novel Corona virus, a Bluetooth virus infects Bluetooth- activated devices

within a radius of 10 to 30m. A Multimedia Messaging Virus (MMS), replicates itself to all

phones whose contacts are in the Log book of the infected device and within a span of 10m.

In a bid to understand the dynamics of infection, a study was conducted. Using the SI model,it

was considered that an infected user (I ), infects a susceptible user (S ), so that the number of

infected users evolves in time as dI/dt=βSI/N, where the effective infection rate is β=μ <k>

with μ=1 and the average number of contacts is < k > =pA=NA/Atower, where A=πr2 represents

the 3 bluetooth communication area and p= N/ Atower is the population density inside a tower’s

service area. (P.Wang, M. Gonzalez, A.Hidalgo pdf) . The parameter m was integrated into

this mathematical function to symbolize the market share of a specific operating system. This

is due to the fact that, the rate of infection strongly relies on the share of the market of the

handset. For instance, if m= 0.40 , 90% - 99.8% of vulnerable handsets are likely to get

infected by Bluetooth virus in a span of 7 days. Unlike a Bluetooth virus, an MMS virus in a

matter of hours reaches plethora. Nevertheless, the MMS virus is limited as it can only access

a minute m- dependent portion of susceptible phones.

Propagation of worms.

Kaspersky labs notes that Worm.SymbOS.Cabir uses Bluetooth wireless technology to

replicate itself to the first susceptible handset it finds. In a British town it was researched and

found out that less than 10% of users turn on Bluetooth devices. This greatly diminishes the

propagation of Bluetooth worms such as CommWarior. Internet connection is by far the

fastest way to transmit a worm. A TF model was introduced by a group of researchers to

indicate the pace of worm transmission. The parameters used were as follows β (t) to stand for

rate of infection at time, I (t) to symbolize number of infected devices at time, R (t)
representing number of devices immune before infection time, S(t) for number of vulnerable

devices at time, βo , N and d are constants.(hindawi.com)

dS(t) = -β (t) S (t) I (t) – dQ (t)

dt dt

dR(t) = γI (t),

dt

dQ (t)= μ S (t) (I(t) + R (t)),

dt

β (t)= βo [ 1 – I (t) ]n, N= S (t) + I(t) + R(t) +Q (t), hence 0≤ S(t), I (t), R(t), Q (t) ≤

This model overlooks the fact that infected devices can be upgraded to counterattack

the worm.

Propagation of trojan horses.

Websites that offer programs such shareware for free are the common vectors of

Trojan horses. They can be attached to files posted in a web , while the web operator is in the

dark. A trojan author can also create a website and deceive to offer legit services, for users to

download only to end up hacking into their operating system. A common trend has been

observed of Trojan horses infiltrating a phone as an email attachment. The authors of the

malware are crafty and pique one’s curiosity by disguising the attachment to be from a trusted

organization. This malicious code is also propagated through instant messaging services or a
chat room. A cybercriminal approaches potential victims and convinces them to accept a file,

of which upon opening it, transmits Trojan. NVP Trojan, IconDance Trojan, Destructive

trojan, Feliz Trojan, Joke Trojan and AOL4Free Trojan are examples of this taunting

malware. NVP trojan disrupts the system file when typing vowels they are not displayed on

the screen. Destructive trojan is the most dangerous since it completely modifies or wipes out

files. It is a relief that their presence can easily be detected. Feliz Trojan is very manipulative

in the sense that, it shows a warning image, to stop the user from running a program while it

deletes core files in the background. AOL4Free program was authored by Nicholas Ryan a

Yale University student. It functions by allowing users to access America Online through

evading the subscription fee. A hoax that AOL4Free program was a Trojan horse sent a wave

of confusion to AOL4Free program users. This fuelled the writing of AOL4 Trojan which was

propagated to America Online users. It clears every file and displays “Bad command or file

name.’’ Cybercriminals use this clandestine code to steal passwords. Once they obtain it the

thieves ,are able to masquerade and rob one’s account. Hey You Aol Trojan is received as an

email , with ‘’hey you’’ as the subject. It then sends one’s ID and password by email to the

hacker eventually it can block one from their own account. A remote access Trojan is more

difficult for a hacker to write than one that imitates a login screen to acquire passwords. These

cybercriminals use their intellect to study source codes of existing trojans in a bid to write

new ones. Open source projects such as UNIX, also provide a platform to change a legit

program into a Trojan horse. This malware is very secretive indeed.

Propagation of rootkits.

In a three year period, between 2004-2006, statistical data revealed a 600% increase in

rootkits. This surveillance by MacAfee is a reflection of the level of susceptibility of

smartphones. Rootkit malware are designed to corrupt a number of interfaces such as voice,

messaging and Global Positioning System (GPS). Rootkits are in high use by hackers since
they spy on confidential conversation thus compromising the privacy of the end users.

Kidnappers use rootkits to track the location of a user using GPS. This malware does not

spare smartphone batteries.It exploits power – intensive smart phone services such as GPS

and Bluetooth, to exhaust the battery on the phone.(Jeffrey Bickford pdf. ) It is beyond doubt

that this presents a potiential threat to mobile security.

Propagation of botnets.

Lastly, this detailed focus on mobile malware highlights the propagation of botnets.

Mobile nodes that become part of a botnet perform functions like sending text messages,

deletion of files,recording audio and taking photos. It is very difficult to detect and get rid of

this malware. It is devastating that 100,000 unique IP addresses can be developed by a HTTP

flood from a mobile botnet. In a bid to mitigate the malevolent software discussed above, the

possible threats to Operating Systems of mobile phones should be taken into account.

VULNERABILITIES OF MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS.

Many have come across Android smartphones, which are increasingly becoming

popular because of their Operating System. This OS is manufactured by Open Handset

Alliance, their marketing being done by the renowned Google. Java (UI), C( core), and C++

is Android’s programming language. Despite its consistent growth in the market it is not

immune to potiential malware. Zimperium Labs revealed that a text message could infiltrate

95% of Android devices. This is not surprising attributing to open nature of the system, which

sets an ideal platform for hackers to carry out their activities. Its open-source model sets stage

for illicit Android Apps. In 2010 AndroidOS.DroidSMS.A was the first Android Trojan to be

developed. It auto-subscribed an Infected device to SMS services thus increasing the phone

bill without the handset owner’s authorization. As if that was not enough, in the same year,

TapSnake game app was a Trojan to deny end users location privacy via hacking into their
GPS. This nightmare grew in leaps and bounds and in 2011, DroidDream , a mobile botnet,

was modelled to gain access to unique identification information. This botnet functions only

while the owners were asleep thus its name. This unscrupulous activities spiked up to another

level in 2015—MazelTovToolkit, aka “APK Download system” was found to facilitate

hacking activities in Android devices. These toolkits were bought at $ 3,000 by malicious

‘’customers’’ .This information does not imply that iPhone operating systems are immune to

attack. Unprecedented iPhone malware implantation has emerged. It operates by escaping the

iOS sandbox and starts functioning as a root. It communicates with a command and control

(C&C) server on a hard-coded IP address over unencrypted HTTP. Uploading contacts

database, messages, key chains and displaying chat transcripts on the internet are among the

services it provides to its developers. This information implies that many unsuspecting

mobile users have fallen victims of cybercrimes.

HOW TO DETECT MOBILE MALWARE.

The rising number of incidents is a reflection of the widening security breach that is an

impendence. It is a foreshadow of the already tainted picture of mobile security in the future.

Telltale signs that a phone is infected is a valueable piece of information. Some of the sure

signs that a phone has a malware are as follows: Having an app that automatically

downloaded itself on a device , a phone that crashes frequently, the phone battery getting

exhausted faster than usual, a very high number of pop-up ads appearing on the screen,

illogical increase in data consumption, unreasonable increase in texting bills. Being keen is

crucial at this stage.

The breach in mobile security evokes the question,’’ what are the countermeasures

against measures against these threats?’’ The pie chart below shows percent incidents by
breach type .

Breach types
stolen laptop
hack
web
Frauds
stolen computer
Disposal document
Snailmail
unknown
lost media
email
stolen document
lost drive

MEASURES TO PREVENT MALWARE ATTACKS.

Countermeasures for users.

Despite the glaring menace of compromise in mobile security, various techniques can

be employed to narrow this gap. First, one should install apps only from reliable app stores.

This is very vital for Android users. Examples of these are: Amazon Appstore and Android
Market. In the same line one should research on the credibility of the developer of any app

downloaded. In order to check for any bugs in the application, one should read the users

reviews. Secondly, setting a password also plays a key role, in a bid to counter spyware.

Setting a password on the lockscreen prevents unauthorized access to private data in the

phone. Many a times pickpockets have succeeded to withdraw money from victims account

due to lack of passwords. With the ever evolving sphere of technology ,other techniques in the

same line have been established. Use of fingerprint sensors and facial recognition are found to

be effective too. Thirdly, installation of malware protection is an effort worth the benefits. A

study conducted in America revealed that most people prefer to browse using their

smartphones rather than their computers. It is thus necessary to be on the look out for mobile

malware through downloading programs that enhance malware protection. Lookout mobile

security is an example of such a program. Whenever we receive a notification to update our

mobile operating system, most procastinate it oblivious to the fact that it decreases mobile

insecurity. System developers brace themselves to always be ahead of malware and spyware

authors through updating their systems. Another effective measure is updating privacy

settings. This will ensure that location and conversation privacy is not compromised. Setting

up a two- factor authentication is also factor that ensures protection as one logs in a website

platform. It involes a multi-step login procedure—loging into a website using both a code and

a password—in order to flatten the curve of receiving trojan malware. With exponential

increase in use of Wi-Fi, exposure to malevolent malware has been a red flag.Precautions

should thus be taken before connecting a device to Wi-Fi. As most companies are embracing

the’’ bring-your-own-device(BYOD) policies’’, their employees should be educated on how

to protect company data. The security risks accompanying jailbreaking are immense.

Jailbreaking involves getting rid of security techniques imposed by the OS developer.This

exposes sensitive data to malicious applications. All these measures are responsibilities of
mobile phone users. The operating system vendors, phone manufacturers, Information

technology departments and network service providers also have a role to play.

Measures taken by Operating Systems.

iOS is widely perceived by the masses to be malware-immune .Though opinions

vary,it is important to understand how iPhone counters potiential attacks. The “Walled

garden’’ approach has been employed to enhance its security. This infamous approach weeds

out installation of malicious apps by users, through ensuring that apps are only downloaded

through the official app store. iOS thorughly scans every app submitted to it by app vendors

and turns down every malicious code. Sandboxing is also a technique in use to thwart attacks.

This ensures that any app one installs does not obtain any data from other apps. In the same

line , the administrator account is inaccessible to most apps, thus they can’t modify the

operating system. Lastly , their timely iOS update is effective in protecting their sytem against

mobile malware. All these provide an extra layer of apple phones security.

MEASURES TAKEN BY PHONE MANUFACTURERS.

Phone manufacturers have also stayed guard to ensure security of their products. For

instance, Nokia NetGuard Endpoint Security is a network-based anti-malware solution for

fixed, mobile, and loT devices.(Nokia.com) This technique detects malicious codes, and

downsizes its impact on the handset. This mechanism is capable of alerting the Nokia security

operations team, of threat intelligence on malicious work going on in their network. The

architecture of this system uses sensors in their host network to check on network traffic

between the internet and user endpoints, for confirmation of malware infection. It includes

malware command-and-control (C&C) traffic, hacking and DDoS activity. The security

alarms are centaralized to a reporting cluster, for analysis and storage. Interfaces link

information to SOAR( Security Orchestration, Analytics and Response), SIEM (Security

Information and Event Management), policy enforcement systems and firewalls. A system

that notifies the user and an auto-serve remediation portal are also features integrated into this

system.

Samsung mobile manufacturers are also initiating ways to thwart potiential attacks to

their products. They have refined their security strategies . A good example is Samsung Knox

which features a multilayered security technique. It has integrated a trusted root account

which enhances the integrity of any software loaded into the device. This averts the

infiltration of bootkit and rootkit attacks. In addition to that, since the keys are inaccessible

via software, subverting data encryption is a nightmare to hackers. The samsung developers

have incorporated a verified boot process. This is a build up on Android operating system,

which has a ROM-based primary bootloader to initialize basic hardware before secondary

boot software takes over. Conventionally, the bootloader preceeding the OS is called aboot.

Android ensures that aboot is cryptographically secured against subvertion. In the same

spectrum, Samsung devices are designed to boot verify through hardware root of trust

mechanism,which entails the bootloader software first obtains Samsung Secure Boot

Certification before operating.

Huawei vendors are also not left behind in this quest to breach mobile security. The

use of chip security solutions is strategized to embed the chip into the handset. Huawei’s inSE

security technique makes use of a System-on-a-chip(SOC) design and software algorithms.

This capacitates the smartphone’s system to withstand malware attacks. The incorporation of

EMUI( Emotional User Interface) operating system is another major milestone to enhance

Huawei’s security. EMUI supports the secure TEE ( Trusted Execution Environment )

operating system. It operates at four levels: system security via kernel security(Security-

Enhanced Linux access control) , data security via Huawei Universal Keystore , App security

via app sandbox and app threat detection and lastly communications security via blocks and
filters. Thirdly, Huawei’s mobile cloud services boost security for Huawei accounts, Hi cloud

and App gallery. Huawei has also ensured robust security in the products through obtaining

privacy and security certifications from relevant reputable institutions. These are the efforts

of vendors to provide a secure evironment when using Huawei.

Roles of network security in mobile security.

The credibility of network services is also a matter of concern in mobile security.

Transparency of the host network is fundamental to narrow the breach. To enhance end-user

device security, three main control measures are put in place: administrative control and

technical control. Administrative control encompasses formulation of security policies to the

effect of managing user behavior and implementations on new technology by IT staff.

Technical control comprises : controlling malicious software and activities of intrusion,

storage of sensitive data on servers with ‘’unique’’ passwords and devising secure

configurations for the network . This information depicts that different spheres are involved in

curbing the spread of mobile malware attacks.

DEMERITS OF MOBILE INSECURITY.

i. TO THE ECONOMY.

With the rising tide of mobile malware, the cybercriminals are draining the economic

sector globally. Since mobile phones have a built-in billing system unlike computers, mobile

related crimeware attacks, are generally escalating for money gain by hackers.This simply

implies that basic things like texting and making phone calls are potential gateways to

opportunities by profiteer hackers.The consequences of mobile malware on the economic

sector can neither be underestimated nor ignored.

 The experience of business enterprises affected by mobile malware is horrendous.

Statistical data compiled by Verizon Data Breach Investigation in 2018, reveals that 58% of

malware crimes affected small businesses. One of the negative impacts of malware on a

business includes interruption or even worse, debilitation of the quality of services offered to

clients. This is linked to the fact that, malicious codes can easily break the network of

organization and compromise the effectiveness of the services. This is eventually detrimental

to the businesses’ reputation. Another consequence of malware to an enterprise involves

identity theft . This descibes a notorious code obtaining passwords and identification number

details and sending spam e-mails to disrupt activities of other devices in an organization . This

is action achieved through the hacker ordering the code ,to impersonate the victim. A glimpse

of how specific industries have been affected is able to give a deeper cognizance of these

adverse effects.

ii. THE MAIN INDUSTRIES AFFECTED .

The healthcare industry is ranked to have the highest cases of malware crimes.

Research findings, accentuate that one in every eight Americans have their health data

exposed. The stolen records are utilized to gain access to medical services or prescribed

dosages. The Anthem medical data breach, is an occurrence that will forever be scribed as the

most adverse in the history medical related malware crime. It is reported that 37.5 million

records were stolen with 78.8 million details on personal identification directly affected. The

New York times stated that approximately 80 million company records were attacked by these

scoundrels. The Anthem settled the lawsuits filed against them at a dear cost ,amounting to

$115 million . The stolen medical data is believed to be used as a commodity in the black

market. This incident is an example of how the health sector is affected in context of malware

crimes.
 The accomodation industry is also facing a nightmare due to the uprise of malicious

programs infiltrating the market. The tourism sector is one of the most vulnerable targets for

lucrative attacks by malware vendors. It is rather devastating that 96% of accomodation

breaches remain obscure months after the attacks are accomplished. These crimes are mostly

linked to hotels’ insiders acting as accomplices to cybercriminals. The hotel staffs leak

sensitive data to hackers for them to subotage the organizations’ database and gain access to

the innocent tourists’ credit cards data. For instance, 500 million Marriott Hotels guests had

their data -that was provided to the hotel’s database- stolen. It took two years for the incident

to be disclosed. This put the company’s image in the bad books of malware crimes.

The retail industry has also been found to be subject to malware attacks. It is estimated

that, 50% of US retailers are victims of this unscrupulous activity. This is a target due to

mobile security vulnerabilities especially during financial transactions. In 2013, 110 million

clients of Target retail chain in America,had their contacts and credit cards data stolen. This

incurred great financial losses to the customers and retailers.

Financial institutions are deemed to invest highly in tightening their security measures.

Despite their efforts, breaches still occur in this sector. What is the loophole? Since most

clients use mobile banking services, the cybercriminals use malicious websites to intrude their

account details. It was published that banking trojans spiked up by 300% for Android users in

the recent years. This threat has emptied the accounts of many, if not drowning them into

bankruptcy. Ransomware is also a red flag in this sector. This is a tool used by blackmailers to

ask for a hefty ransom in order to release stolen banking credentials. These malware attacks

propagate via URLS in malicious apps. The financial losses incurred lead to layoffs.

iii. EFFECTS TO THE SOCIETY.

 The society at large is affected by the effects of cybercrimes. Many sociomedia

platforms like Facebook have exposed private texts , photos and expedient data of malware

crime victims. The World Health Organization states that the prevalence of depression is

more than 264 million individuals. One of the factors attributed to this, being adverse events

like unauthorized exposure of private data to the masses. For instance, many teenagers have

undergone the trauma of being trolled on social media platforms after their privacy is

compromised through malware crimes. It is alarming that the rate of suicides tends to peak as

more are battling with cybercrime related trauma. This is due to the decrease in self esteem

and self confidence as an aftermath of mass crictisms on divulged personal info. It simply

implies that it puts the mental health of the victims at risk.

Escalated intensity of layoffs points out to the number of employees who fall victims

of the hackers. Sole breadwinners of families, have been forced to down their tools after being

blamed unjustly for stealing money yet, it was but a cybercrime. The reputations of these

victims has been subotaged as they have been perceived to be scoundrels yet they are not.

This has been detrimental to the careers of many skilled labourers, with their families being

forced to live from hand to mouth.The moral decadence levels have also been on the rise due

to these malicious links sending numerous pornographic files. The social ethical standards

have been compromised in such cases.

iv. EFFECTS TO THE POLITICAL SECTOR.

The implications of this nuisance in the political sector cannot be underestimated.

Government data is leaked for espionage and financial opprtunities by the hackers. In Jan ,

2019, sensitive data was leaked to Twitter containing personal info of politicians, public

figures and celebrities in Germany. The stolen data included: phone contacts, private chats

and credit cards data. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president was also among the
victims. This greatly compromised the integrity of the Herman government. Most

international wars are carrying out on the basis of using spyware to obtain military

information . The widely known Russian spies have used this technique to target USA.

MERITS OF MOBILE INSECURITY.

The coin of mobile insecuruty is two sided, the advantage of mobile insecurities is

existant too.For instance ,many teenagers have dreaded taking nude videos and photos in fear

of them being hacked and posted on social media. This implies that mobile insecurity has

promoted social ethics and norms.

In the same line, many opportunituies have been created by malware crimes ,for

antivirus companies to have a share of the market. This would not have been possible for

renowned antivirus agencies like Kaspersky were it not for the widening breach in mobile

security.

The argument brought about here is that mobile security has a wide gap which has

both merits and demerits. According to the findings laid out on these paper the demerits

outweigh the merits by far.

DATA COLLECTION

In our quest to establish whether mobile device users were knowledgeable on the

security aspect of their mobile phones, we carried out interviews on sample device users. We

sampled interviewees randomly and contacted them by way of phone. We limited the

sampling to ##################### locations. The respondents were requested to be honest

as no personal information was required. Our focus was only in iOS and Android users aged

between 17 and 40 to capture an experienced view.

The interview was well structured and the questions were as listed below;

i. The type of device one possesses; whether android or iOS

ii. Whether one possesses knowledge on mobile security, if yes to what to what

extent?

iii. Any experience of mobile insecurity from the listed forms of insecurity, if yes

which one was it?

iv. Are there any measures one has taken to protect the device against future

attacks? Example if any.

v. Is there any vulnerability that you suspect your device may be susceptible to?

vi. How has this aspect affected your usage of mobile devices in day-to-day life?

How? Also was to rate from a scale of 1-5 with one less modification and five

greater modifications

vii. Has it modified your financial and social behavior?

viii. What is your recommendation to the manufacturers

RESULTS
 Type of Device and Mobie Insecurity

Type Of Device

Knowledge on mobile insecurity

Axis Title

Experience of insecurity

Measures taken for protection

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Numericals

Android Iphone

HAS MOBILE INSECURITY AFFECTED BEHAVIOUR?

MODIFICATION OF BEHAVIOUR

SCALE 1

SCALE 2

SCALE 3

SCALE 4

SCALE 5

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

YES NO

DISCUSSION

As earlier noted a larger population is either vulnerable to mobile insecurity, has

experienced this malice or both. Such a group out of insight or knowledge is usually forced to

change its behavior majorly socially and economically. A larger percentage of the users prefer
the android based devices, a further probe revealed it was due to their range of services

offered and affordability compared to iOS who have restrictions such as not permitting

externa storage. More than half of both these groups have experienced insecurity incidents on

their devices. iPhone users believe that iOS is secured extensively and have no need of taken

security steps, this though is combined to the fact a higher percentage have no knowledge on

it.

The area of focus was how this has affected behavior and normal day-to-day life. 80%

of the users have been forced to modify their behavior (social and economic application of

their behavior). Most of the correspondents were in the 4-5 scale as an increase trend was

posted. They affirmed the fact that for example they had been forced to change their way of

storing data; most of the group preferred physical storage of information like passwords,

credit card details etc. Sometime back one interviewee had the same password almost in all

arenas, this coupled with backing up passwords in browsers led to siphoning of funds from his

accounts, his social media platforms were also intruded and naughty stuff posted that had him

spend a year trying to regain his reputation.

Most of the users of iOS believe the system cannot be hacked. Apple though at one

point had admitted that it had taken them long to remove a high utility app. This app had been

gathering information from users and sending the details to a base in China. No need to say

what could happen next.

Android users had no surety of security in whatever aspect in their devices. They have

the highest number of users who have been forced to change their way of operation. Students

do not prefer portable mobile phones for online classes as this may lead to them attracting

some viruses from sites. This young population has also reduced their visits to pornographic

sites as they post the highest dangers of infecting devices, this is a positive note though.
CONCUSION

In conclusion, Android developers should cease using the open source method , in

order to seal all loopholes for malware infection to Android end users.Sensitive data like

passwords, credit card data and IDs should have back up configurations so that hackers are

blocked from accessing personal email and bank accounts.The masses should be educated on

ways to prevent malware crime attacks.Bank clients should decrease the use of mobile

banking services to lower chances malware frauds.A single well protected server should be

used to store all sensitive databases in an organization.The penalties of malware crimes

should be increased by the law enforcement section so as to discourage such

activities.Network service providers should employ use of sensitive detectors to identify

hacking activities in time. This helps maintain our adapted way of our life.

References