Page 32 - CyberSecurityEssentialsEnglish

✓ Connect using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
VPNs encrypt connections at the sending and receiving ends and keep out traffic that is not
adequately encrypted.

Mobile Phone-related threats
Cybercriminals design fake applications to damage users and their gadgets. They are made to seem like
legitimate programs, but they do harmful actions. These actions could involve checking your online behavior,
installing malware, displaying intrusive advertisements, or stealing your data.

Fake Applications
There are several ways to spread fake software. They could be housed on phony or unofficial app shops.
Despite the security safeguards, cybercriminals may still distribute bogus programs through official app
stores.

Cybercriminals may download a legal program, register themselves as developers on any app store, and then
replace it with a harmful code. They may then submit their phony software to the app store.

The Google Play Store may still contain harmful programs. Google often pulls phony Android applications
from the Play Store, including phony games, browsers, and antivirus software. Yet, Apple's App Store only
accepts tested applications.

Fake Applications Threats
Fake applications are always risky apps. Examples of fake apps include:

✓ Ad bots repack applications frequently containing advertisements absent from the free genuine
versions, thus your phone may also start displaying unforeseen advertisements.
✓ Billing fraud apps are fraudulent applications automatically charging items to your phone bill without
your permission. They can even make collect phone calls (i.e. a phone call in which the party receiving
the call pays the charges, rather than the party who makes the call), send premium SMS messages, or
purchase items through an app store.
✓ Botnet secretly utilizes the phone to deliver spam, mine cryptocurrencies, or participate in distributed
denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
✓ Phishing-based apps are bogus apps that can direct you to enter your login information or visit a
website to achieve that (or infect you via that website). Then, hackers take your login information to
utilize it maliciously.
✓ Rooting apps root the smartphone, often known as jailbreak. Legitimate programs may root, and not
all rooting apps are bad; real apps ask for user permission before doing hazardous operations on your
device.
✓ Spam apps contain a code that can use your smartphone to participate in an email spam campaign or
send unwanted messages to your contacts.
✓ Spyware is an application that transfers personal information and activities (like text messages, phone
logs, contact lists, emails, photographs, browsing histories, GPS position information) to hackers.
✓ Trojan programs covertly carry out dangerous tasks in the foreground. They consist of a valuable
component that enables the app to work as a destructive component. Thus, the device is enabled to
send private information without your awareness.

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