Modern Mobile Security Now Mirrors Its Desktop Counterparts

Mobiles have transcended their status as palm-sized communication devices. Now known as smartphones, modern devices have, in many ways, become super-computers that never leave our sides. With so much invested in our mobiles, security is paramount. Having a phone without protection is like walking onto a construction site without a hardhat. Yes, you might be ok. However, would you really feel safe?

Just like a construction site, there are many dangers within the mobile space. Even though you might not be a direct target at any given time, you could be a target and that’s what you need to protect yourself against. Ask yourself this: would you leave your mobile sitting on a table in a coffee shop without a passcode? Most of us would say no. Leaving aside the fact someone might steal your phone, the reality is that you have too much sensitive data on there to not have a password.

Indeed, you can take this a step further and apply the same logic to apps. From Facebook and Gmail to your banking apps, passwords and passcodes are a necessity in the mobile realm. However, these are minimum requirements in today’s world. If you really want to stay safe, embracing the latest innovations is important.

Securing Apps is Essential

Moving beyond the basics, TouchID is a great way to protect your device and, more recently, your apps. For example, when you visit the Paddy Power online website, you’ll find a link to the Apple Store. Here, you can download the operator’s mobile app and get full access to games like Buffalo Blitz, Premium Blackjack and Live Spin A Win. What you also get is the ability to make deposits and withdrawals. Just as you can credit money to your account via the website, you can do the same on the app. With this feature in place, real money mobile gaming is possible.

Therefore, just as you’d want to secure banking apps and eWallets like PayPal, you’ll want to protect your gaming app. To this end, Paddy Power has added TouchID to its app. By using this instead of a password, you not only get quicker access to what’s inside but the added security of fingerprints rather than text.

Cybercriminals Have a New Target

It used to be the case that cybercriminals couldn’t or wouldn’t target mobile devices. However, with more people using smartphones than before, they’re now rich pickings. According to Kaspersky, there were 3.5 million malicious installation packages downloaded to mobiles in 2019. Add to this 69,777 new mobile banking trojans and 68,362 ransomware threats and it’s clear to see that mobile antivirus software is now a must. However, even though many of the major security brands like Kaspersky and Avast offer free mobile antivirus software, few of us use it. Despite being standard practice on desktop devices, we’re not yet conditioned to download these products onto our mobiles.

Yes, the number of mobile threats is still low compared to the desktop realm. Moreover, mobiles tend to have a greater degree of internal protection thanks to Apple et al. However, mobile antivirus software is becoming more important. Indeed, it all plays into the narrative that mobiles are the new computers. That’s why we have passwords, passcodes, and fingerprint protection. We live so much of our lives through phones that we have to secure them like we do computers. This means antivirus software will soon become standard. Moreover, it will lead to more innovations and ideas in the coming years as we look to make our mobiles more secure than ever.