Norton UK Blog
Mobile Security: Why you should take it seriously
For all intents and purposes your smartphone is a convenient amalgam of computer, diary, bank account and television. You eat with it, email with it, play with it, and on the odd occasion, even make phone calls with it. It’s your favourite recipe book, your cherished photo album, your financial vault, and you should be treating it with the utmost care and attention.

Now for some shocking statistics courtesy of the most recent Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report: 1 in 3 of us does not have a password on their smartphone or desktop computer at all, less than 50% of us always use a secure password and 36% of those sharing passwords in the U.S have shared the password to their banking account!
Cybercriminals are tailoring their efforts towards smartphones because contactless payment schemes are making them a more attractive target that is often all too easy to compromise. If we’re being honest, then as consumers we’re lax, we don’t back up, scan or update as often as we should and we’ve never taken mobile security seriously.

The figures from Symantec’s 21st ISTR suggest that we should: Out of the total 10.8 million apps that were analysed by Norton Mobile Insight in 2015, 3.3 million were classified as malware, 528 new mobile vulnerabilities were exposed, and almost 4,000 new variants of android malware wormed their way onto the market.
How to keep your mobile device safe.
Here’s a few tips that even the laziest among us can follow with relative ease.
- Invest in an Internet Security Program – Yes, invest! You get what you pay for, so spend some money on your security.
- Make use of Social Media – You follow celebrities, friends and dancing goats, so use the power of Social Media to your benefit and follow a tech account to keep you up to date with current mobile threats.
- Avoid suspect websites – Pretty much anything to do with pornography and illegal streaming or downloading should be eschewed as they’re not conducive to a healthy device… or marriage.
- Wherever possible, don’t use your phone for the storage of sensitive files – this includes banking details, addresses, passwords and sextapes.
- Avoid public Wi-Fi - Nearly half (47 percent) of British organisations ban their employees from using free Wi-Fi hotspots3, there’s a reason for that.
Find out more aboout the latest threats to mobile secuirity in the Norton ISTR
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