How Attackers Hack Mobile Phones to Breach an Organization?

If you think that there is no way cyber criminals can hack your organization through mobile phones, think again. Whether your company has just ten employees or a thousand, your business is at risk as long as even one of them has a mobile phone. With smartphones becoming one of the most important parts of our everyday life, cyber criminals have started coming up with new ways to exploit these devices with the aim of breaching organizations. As per an article by CISO Mag, nearly 97% of organizations faced mobile threats that used different attack vectors in 2020.

Your employees not only bring their mobile phones to work but also use them to send work emails, store corporate data and make phone calls to clients and partners. If threat actors are able to successfully hack your employees’ mobile phones, they can find a gold mine of your valuable business data. This can lead to devastating data breaches and cyber attacks, affecting your organization’s finances and reputation.

How Do Threat Actors Hack Mobile Phones?

There are a myriad of attack vectors cyber criminals can use to hack the mobile phones of your employees. Some of the most common cyber threats to mobile security include:

#1 Social Engineering Attacks

Social engineering attacks, especially phishing, have become one of the most prevalent threats to mobile security these days. With people spending so much time on their phones, mobile devices have become the perfect target for phishing attacks. The lack of precautions users usually take on traditional computers makes it much easier for threat actors to hack mobile phones. Since most of the mobile email clients display only a sender’s name, it is much more likely that the users will fall for a spoofed or fraudulent email. Also, mobile phishing is not limited to emails. In fact, according to an article by The SSL Store, 87% of phishing on mobile devices are launched via methods other than email like gaming, messaging and social media.

#2 Mobile Malware

There is a wide range of vicious and stealthy mobile malware threats out there these days. Designed to hack your mobile phones, these malware threats include spam, rogue applications and weaponized links on various websites. According to an article by TechRepublic, 85% of all mobile applications are largely unsecured. An article published by Computer Weekly mentioned that mobile malware is the second-most prevalent malware type, affecting 33% of organisations worldwide. Android devices are the most common target of mobile malware, which can be used to monitor your activities, steal your data and intercept your communications. The trend of malvertising is also on rise and is contributing to the increase in the spread of malware.

Read More: https://threatcop.ai/blog/how-cyber-criminals-hack-mobile-phones-to-breach-your-organization/

ThreatCop is a cyberattack simulator and security awareness training tool to help employees combat phishing, vishing, smishing, cyber scam, ransomware, etc.