Is It Safe To Use An Android Smartphone For Banking?

Being an iPhone user for many years, I must start off this post with a disclaimer that I am out of my comfort zone talking about Android phones.  I just know that historically Android-based phones have a significantly higher incidence of viruses than Apple iPhones.  In fact, there has not been any easily available antivirus apps for the iPhone -- just not needed -- whereas there are several for Android devices.

Why is that, you may ask?  I believe it has to do with Apple's tight control of the architecture and what is allowed to be added to the App Store.

Recently it has been discovered that iPhones and Androids as well as most PC and Mac CPUs are vulnerable to a chip flaw that allows quasi-viruses like Spectre and Meltdown. Apple is working on some solutions, as other chip venders like Intel and AMD are doing, so that isn’t what I’m addressing with this post.

Regardless, I have recently read an article that discusses in extreme and painful detail why Android phone apps can expose your banking credentials to hackers.  These Android banking Trojan viruses, also called "Bankbots", scan the running apps on your Android phone to intercept any bank-related SMS messages and forward them to the hacker instead of the phone owner.

Apparently the Bankbot looks like a Flash Player (not allowed on iPhones, by the way), registering various receivers to grab these SMS messages, then pushing the messages to the hacker, all without the user knowing it.

Obviously, it is vital that Android users install and maintain a reliable and well-known antivirus app, keep the Android operating system up to date with all security updates, and monitor any security alerts that pop up.  Also obviously, don't install apps that are not cleared with the Google Play store, not even those recommended as a "cool game" by your best friend, if not on the official store.

It doesn't hurt to regularly change your banking credentials on a secure PC browser.  That won't prevent this problem from happening, but it might help minimize the likelihood (I change mine nearly every month).  A password manager, such as IDShield's Vault, LastPass, or DashLane, can help with this.

Here is the article I referenced for this post: http://tinyurl.com/yap8ha9o

#idtheft

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Equifax Provides More Details of Hacked Data

In a recent letter to several congressional committees, Equifax shared that out of the 146+ million records that were hacked in last year's breach: all contained consumers' dates of birth,  nearly all contained Social Security Numbers,  99 million had address information,  209,000 contained credit card data including expiration dates,  38,000 contained driver's license info, 3,200 contained passport information. While some identity fraud incidents have been traced back to the Equifax breach, most of these records have not yet been used in a fraud.  However, since the data is not likely to change (other than credit card info), it is assumed that eventually the stolen information will be sold in the dark web and misused.  Just a matter of time.  My advice: do what you can to minimize your exposure and certainly stay on top of your credit reports, but since things like passports, driver's licenses, and Social Security Numbers can be used in non-financial identity
Read more

Orbitz Reveals Breach Of 880,000

Orbitz, a division of Expedia, has announced it was hacked last October, 2017, revealing credit card information of 880,000 customers, including names, birth dates, mailing and email addresses, dated between January and June, 2016. The current Orbitz website was not hacked, according to the company. One article on the breach: http://www.zdnet.com/article/orbitz-says-hacker-stole-customer-data/
Read more

Should I Be Concerned About Criminal Identity Theft?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've found that most people equate ID theft only with their finances -- their bank and credit accounts.  They don't see a need for paid protection services, relying instead on bank- or card- or insurance-provided free services.  Or they put fraud alerts on their credit report every three months. While useful, these free services rarely look beyond the finances or offer much in the way of restoration.  I advise people to get all of the reliable free coverage they can, but recognize their limitations, and understand that real identity theft is much more than their finances. Take for example something called criminal identity theft.  This is where someone pretends to be someone else, hiding their own identity, when caught in the act of a crime, such as illicit drug dealing or breaking and entering.  Often this is pulled off by first obtaining driver's license info either through direct theft or through a breach and then modifying it with
Read more