The cyber security market may reach $870 million by 2017, according to a recent report by the worldwide industry analyst firm IDC. As reported in a recent IBN article discussing the report, IDC indicated there was an increase in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in 2012, which is driving the demand for more proactive solutions to the DDoS problem. But DDoS is only one issue that industries are facing when it comes to cyber threats. In a recent Threat Analysis by security researcher Brett Stone-Gross, Ph.D., with the Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit (CTU), Brett discovered a new Android Trojan Horse called Stels.
A Trojan horse, or Trojan, is malware (or malicious software) that is installed on a user's computer or mobile device without the user's knowledge. The user unknowingly will activate the malware by innocently performing a desirable function, but instead the function facilitates unauthorized access to the user's computer system, or in this case, mobile device. One of the main purposes of Stels is to steal text messages; these messages may include Mobile Transaction Authentication Numbers (mTAN Numbers) used in Two-Factor Authentication for Mobile and Wire Bank Transfers. The Stels malware can also harvest a victim's contact list, send, as well as intercept Text Messages, make phone calls (including calls to Premium, expensive numbers), and install additional malware packages.
It is apparent that as mobile devices increase in popularity, they become a lucrative target for cybercriminals. The eroding corporate perimeter is becoming more of a playground for malicious activity. As an organization, understanding how the increased adoption of mobile devices affects the security of your network is imperative to understanding that we are no longer bound by a "perimeter" and that defense begins with the user. Education is paramount, but so is embracing the idea that the cyber threats are pervasive and so should be security.
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