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A Major Shift is Under Way: mCrime

We’re now watching the entire threat landscape evolve before our very eyes.
Evolutions like these don’t happen in a day. It all started when Apple, Google and
Microsoft began the battle for the Smartphone and Tablet markets. Each learning from
each other about the monetization of consumer data across all devices. Search

results, App stores, in App purchases and Advertising networks require one thing –
consumer analytics. Enter the world of wide open developer toolkits. Who makes
these? Why Apple, Google and Microsoft, of course. You can’t sell a Billion dollars
worth of iPhones and iPads in only weeks without consumers wanting. How much do they want? It’s all riding on

the iTunes store – the more robust utilities, games and other apps made available for end-consumers, the more they
want the device. Why is the Microsoft phone, developed with a more solid operating system spin than the normal
Windows 8, not taking off? Just checkout their App store – it’s really negligible compared to Google Play or Apple
iTunes, hence the Windows phone, a brilliant device, is not high on consumers list. But what is the real issue here,

when it comes to privacy and security on-device? There is none. Nation states that want to perform cyber
espionage and criminal rings that want to steal your identity have found a wonderful new attack vector – your
Smartphone and Tablet. Simply put, one needs only integrate with a development kit from Apple, Google or
Microsoft and they have nearly total control of the device – not only for consumer analytics and advertising (when’s

the last time you clicked an ad in a free app anyway?) but as cover for their true intentions – eavesdropping and
stealing. Yes, with my article on the Uber breach last week, and Uber not taking any blame for it, we have to look to
the platform for the problem. Uber’s app is most definitely being spied on by other malicious apps on the
Smartphone. Who’s fault is it? We’ll, the criminal of course. But who is liable because they moved a point of sales

experience into a mobile crime device? Why, Uber, of course. As you read on, in this edition of Cyber Warnings,
you’ll hear about other targets like Medical but ultimately a common theme is becoming – you, the consumer. It’s
your personal device coming and going. It’s the doctor installing fun apps on his work tablet. We have all made
ourselves easy prey and soon to be victims in a wave of mobile crime – mCrime – which will be used to harvest more

credit cards, bank information and of course, full consumer personally identifiable information (PII). The shift has
begun so at CDM we will look towards RSA Conference 2015 to find the new innovators in Mobile device Security,
internet of things (iOT) security and Bring your own device (BYOD) management. This event is only weeks away and
we look forward to sharing our findings in the May edition of Cyber Warnings.

To our faithful readers, Enjoy
Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini, Editor-in-Chief, [email protected]

3 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – March 2015 Edition
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