Endpoint Protection Platforms (EPP) , Endpoint Security , Enterprise Mobility Management / BYOD
Mobile Devices: Protecting Critical Data
Brian Robison of BlackBerry Cylance Outlines the Mobile Malware LandscapeMobile devices are attractive targets for attackers because of messages, call logs, location data and more. State-sponsored groups are digging ever deeper into mobile hacking, says Brian Robison of BlackBerry Cylance.
Recent research by BlackBerry found that governments are increasingly using malware for surveillance campaigns. For example, BlackBerry studied a campaign by a suspected Chinese group, dubbed BBCY-TA2, that integrates mobile and desktop malware across Android and Windows.
Those actors developed an app seeded with malware that purports to be a peer-to-peer exchange that allows for exchanging bitcoins for cash. "Protesters and their organizations would rely on it for operational security, anonymity and concerns over local currency instability," Robison says in an interview with Information Security Media Group.
Enterprises also face risks as users juggle corporate data and personal data on the same device. That co-mingling of data offers opportunity to hackers, Robison says.
"If I can attack your mobile devices on the personal side ... then I actually get access to everything on that device," Robison says. "I can take out your private data as well as any corporate data on that device."
In this interview (see audio link below photo), Robison discusses:
- Why users are more lax about mobile security than desktop security;
- Why government-sponsored mobile malware campaigns are on the rise;
- How enterprises can better protect mobile devices.
Robison is chief evangelist at BlackBerry Cylance. He was previously Cylance's senior director of security technology and senior director of technical marketing. Before that, he was a director of technical marketing at Citrix.