Protect Your Mobile Device

The need to secure something personal and important to us is a natural instinct. Yet that instinct doesn't naturally extend over to a device that’s increasingly becoming the centre of our attention: the smartphone. A general lack of awareness and an attitude confined to the PC era is to blame.

If you are the last one to leave your house, do you not bolt and lock the front door? Don’t you safeguard your laptop or desktop PC with an antivirus software? Why then do you leave your smartphone in the lurch?

For a country with close to a billion telephone subscribers, of which a substantial chunk is attributed to mobile subscribers, without security software on our smartphones, we are all sitting ducks exposed to ruthless hunters smack in the middle of hunting season. It’s a game you can’t win. Sooner or later you will hit a poisoned link on your smartphone’s web browser, or unsuspectingly download a malware ridden attachment on to your phone and get enmeshed into a sophisticated botnet. It’s only a matter of time, given the rapid rate at which smartphones and tablets are being launched and introduced into our complex lives.

Android, the fastest growing mobile OS in terms of market share, is the most targetted OS since mid-2011, according to a security report. Since 2009, the number of malware targetted at Android has grown by a whopping 400%. What’s more, since Google doesn't police and screen the apps added into the Android Market, you (and Google) have no way of knowing whether that cool, new app with multiple recommendations is infected with a trojan or not. Chances are that unless you suspect fishy behaviour and report the app for Google to check, the malware app will just fly under the radar and continue to exist as a legitimate download option on the Market. Other mobile OSes may be lesser at risk compared to Android, but they aren't 100% safe without security software. Sad but true.

The scariest news of all is that malware makers have recognized the sheer scale of opportunity and incentive in targeting mobile devices, especially when awareness levels of potential hazards among smartphone users is at such a record low. Security experts are unanimous in their opinion that 2012 will be a breakthrough year for malware scams on smartphones. James Lyne, director of technology strategies at Sophos, believes that we are only at the beginning of this wave of malware attacks targeted on smartphones.

The potential risks of having your smartphone exposed to a scam/malware attack are greater than you ever imagined. For we are not only carrying a substantial portion of our identity and personal files (photos, videos, etc.) on our smart devices, but sensitive work documents, business intelligence and corporate data is equally at risk due to the growing acceptability and increasing complexity of monitoring and securing an armada of different smartphones at work places -- it’s an IT manager’s worst nightmare.

Hence, most of the times, the onus is on us individual users to secure our smartphones to safeguard our personal and professional data. There’s no dearth of suitable software, if you know what to look for either. There’s a bunch of free antivirus apps to choose from on the Android Market or any app store specific to your smartphone’s OS. Since paid subscriptions to most popular security apps only cost about Rs. 500 or so, securing your smartphone is quite cheaper than your PC. The peace of mind ensured by having an antivirus app running on your smartphone is worth the trouble of hunting it down and installing it on your mobile device.

I totally understand that coding and spreading a malware on smartphones is substantially difficult than attacking Windows PCs, but the threat persists and by all indications it’s only going to rise. So do yourself a favour and protect that smartphone.

Source: thinkdgit

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Windows Phone upgrade plans: First Tango, then cash

Microsoft plans to target inexpensive smartphones with the next release of its mobile operating system, and won't add more advanced features until a software release slated for the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a leaked Windows Phone roadmap obtained by the Web site Wmpoweruser.com.

The next iteration of the software known as Tango will be out the door in the second half of 2012, the leaked plans reportedly indicate. By Q4, Microsoft plans to roll out its next big upgrade, known as Apollo. This update will provide features such as dual-core devices, near-field communications, and HD screens. It will also focus on business-related features.

The roadmap plans are "up to date as of October 2011," which of course means that Microsoft may have changed them already. The timing of the releases is somewhat unclear. The leaked roadmap lists Mango for release in the fourth quarter of 2011--but Mango began shipping on devices in September. Also, it's believed that Microsoft partners such as Nokia will begin releasing lower end Windows Phone devices in the first half of 2012 instead of the second half.

In any case, it looks like Microsoft is targeting the most price-sensitive customers with Tango, as it tries to provide devices with "the best prices." To some degree this makes sense, given that Microsoft sees itself as the platform for people who are buying their first smartphone.

But competing at the low end is difficult, especially with Google Android already aggressively addressing this market with several devices that sell for $50 or less with a two-year contract. Android has also even managed to address the prepaid market with devices that are just over $100 without a contract. What's more, Apple offers its older iPhone 4 for $99 and the 3GS is available for free with two-year contracts.

The Apollo release will target "competitive superphones." Hopefully, for Microsoft's sake, the company won't wait until the fourth quarter to roll out this software. If it does,Windows Phone may already be too far behind the competition.

While the current version of Mango offers a ton of enhancements, the software is still missing support for devices with dual-core processors. And it also doesn't yet support 4G LTE. Meanwhile, Google has been offering 4G LTE support an dual-core phones for several months. And its devices also support bigger screens.

There are indications that Microsoft's actual timeline may not match up with the supposed leaked roadmap. Microsoft's major partner Nokia has already mentioned that it will be using less expensive chipsets in upcoming devices to address the lower-end of the market using the Windows Phone software. And a top Nokia exec has also stated that upcoming releases of the Windows Phone software will support more advanced features like NFC, which will enable mobile payments, in mid-2012.

The big question for Microsoft and its Windows Phone platform is whether it can gain enough traction to compete effectively with Apple and Google. So far, Microsoft's performance has been mediocre at best. Even though the release of the Mango software was a huge improvement over the previous version, Microsoft hasn't gained much market share.

That said, Microsoft is rapidly expanding its app store, with more than 50,000 apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to date. Apps for Windows Phone still lag way behind those in app stores run by Apple and Google. But Microsoft is adding more new apps at a quicker pace than Android did at the same stage of development.

Microsoft is banking on Nokia and its other hardware partners to make a big splash in the U.S. in 2012. Nokia, which launched the first of its Windows Phone devices in Europe, is expected to make a slew of announcements for its Windows Phone smartphones at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. In addition, to lower-end smartphones, the company is also expected to include 4G LTE into its Windows Phone products.

Separately, Engadget reports that Microsoft may be looking to improve backup and restoration technology on Windows Phone devices. Microsoft, apparently, has posted a job opening on its Windows Phone Backup, Migrate and Restore team for someone who can help "ensure that no matter if someone loses their phone, drops their phone in a lake ... a user can quickly and seamlessly get their phone back to a good state."

Source: cnet.download.com

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