The mobile device sits squarely in the center of the modern person’s life, in a manner like no other tool before it. The mobile phone’s ubiquity means that users have access to information, financial management tools, and communication tools, for personal and professional uses, often on the same device. This is precisely why security for a mobile device is so crucial. As a nexus for so much important and sensitive data – which forms a user’s digital identity – mobile devices should be as protected as your most personal physical documents.
This is why security features have been some of the most lauded elements to launch on mobile devices recently. And, with device manufacturers touting these hardware security features, it might be easy to assume that all their personal data is safe. This assumption is incorrect. This is the case even on some of the most advanced mobile devices available today.
Ethical hackers from the Whitehat Society at SMU showed that it was possible to take over a user’s device using only their phone number, and then use the device’s camera and audio equipment to spy on the user.