The Threat Of Malicious Mobile Apps To Lawyers
Online threats are nothing new to lawyers; they face them on a daily basis. But there is one threat that many lawyers do not even think about- malicious mobile apps. As many lawyers make their move to the cloud, and begin to work remotely, they start depending more and more on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and the apps that they depend on. But many of these apps, especially the free apps, contain malicious code or software that can steal information or cause damage to the mobile device.
A recent study performed by Webroot, found that in 2012, mobile malware families increased 58% and accounted for 59% of all mobile malware. It also found that 32% of mobile malware apps steal information, 15% track the movements of users, 13% send content and 8% reconfigure the mobile device.
These numbers are pretty bad, but as if they aren't bad enough, the problem is far greater due to the high number of attacks that go unreported or undiscovered.
A recent study shows that in 74% of malicious mobile app attacks, the IT department is not even notified when a mobile device has been rooted. In many cases, mobile users are unaware that malicious mobile apps are stealing their information and using it for their own personal gain.
A recent study performed by Webroot, found that in 2012, mobile malware families increased 58% and accounted for 59% of all mobile malware. It also found that 32% of mobile malware apps steal information, 15% track the movements of users, 13% send content and 8% reconfigure the mobile device.
These numbers are pretty bad, but as if they aren't bad enough, the problem is far greater due to the high number of attacks that go unreported or undiscovered.
A recent study shows that in 74% of malicious mobile app attacks, the IT department is not even notified when a mobile device has been rooted. In many cases, mobile users are unaware that malicious mobile apps are stealing their information and using it for their own personal gain.
Data loss caused by malicious mobile apps
A large amount (about 32% reported) of malicious mobile apps is developed to steal a user's information and use it to gain access to accounts or for personal gain. If the users gain access to your cloud account, they will attempt to steal information and use it, but if there is no useful information that can help them (financially or otherwise), the attackers may just delete files out of spite. If there is information they can use, they will probably delete all the files in the account in order to cover their tracks anyways.
There are other costly incidents besides the actions of attackers. Sometimes the malicious mobile apps are programmed to cause destruction to the mobile device. This can cause corruption and deletion of files. If you have your mobile device synced to a cloud service online (for example, Dropbox app to Dropbox online account), if corruption occurs and files are deleted from the cloud account, it will sync with the online cloud account and the files will be deleted. Without a cloud backup system in place, the files may very well be unrecoverable.
There are other costly incidents besides the actions of attackers. Sometimes the malicious mobile apps are programmed to cause destruction to the mobile device. This can cause corruption and deletion of files. If you have your mobile device synced to a cloud service online (for example, Dropbox app to Dropbox online account), if corruption occurs and files are deleted from the cloud account, it will sync with the online cloud account and the files will be deleted. Without a cloud backup system in place, the files may very well be unrecoverable.
Cloud backup can prevent data loss from malicious mobile apps
Real estate agents deal with many sensitive and confidential documents, and some of these documents are irreplaceable or at the very least can cause major setbacks, loss of time and money.
Enter cloud backup. With a solid cloud backup system such as cloudHQ, data loss from malicious mobile apps becomes a very distant possibility.
But if the unthinkable happens, and you download a malicious mobile app without knowing it, data loss can happen. And if it happens, you can either be prepared, or you will be wishing you had been prepared. The cloudHQ service provides synchronization and replication of data from one cloud service to another. If data loss occurs, restoration of files is a quick and painless procedure that will only take minutes and can prevent any business disruption and costly time. The cloudHQ service works by providing a complete secondary copy of your data on a completely separate cloud account from your main cloud account. This account has completely separate authentication measures from your main cloud account so that no attacker or malicious software will be able to access your secondary cloud account from the mobile device or from your main cloud account.
You don't want to be the real estate agent that suffers a data loss incident and wishes that they had cloud backup BEFORE it happens. I'm sure you would much rather be the real estate agent who was fully prepared with a competent cloud backup system such as cloudHQ. Be prepared with cloudHQ and restoration will only take minutes. Be unprepared and restoration may not ever be possible. Don't let malicious mobile apps be the downfall of your real estate business.
Enter cloud backup. With a solid cloud backup system such as cloudHQ, data loss from malicious mobile apps becomes a very distant possibility.
But if the unthinkable happens, and you download a malicious mobile app without knowing it, data loss can happen. And if it happens, you can either be prepared, or you will be wishing you had been prepared. The cloudHQ service provides synchronization and replication of data from one cloud service to another. If data loss occurs, restoration of files is a quick and painless procedure that will only take minutes and can prevent any business disruption and costly time. The cloudHQ service works by providing a complete secondary copy of your data on a completely separate cloud account from your main cloud account. This account has completely separate authentication measures from your main cloud account so that no attacker or malicious software will be able to access your secondary cloud account from the mobile device or from your main cloud account.
You don't want to be the real estate agent that suffers a data loss incident and wishes that they had cloud backup BEFORE it happens. I'm sure you would much rather be the real estate agent who was fully prepared with a competent cloud backup system such as cloudHQ. Be prepared with cloudHQ and restoration will only take minutes. Be unprepared and restoration may not ever be possible. Don't let malicious mobile apps be the downfall of your real estate business.
Related articles
- Russ Warner: Why You Need to Manage Mobile Apps (huffingtonpost.com)
- Malicious Mobile Apps: The New Threat To Small Businesses (cloudhq.net)
- Top 5 Tips For Cloud Security (cloudhq.net)
- The Six Best Mobile Small-Business Apps (staples.com)
- Native cloud backup app: Fire Chest Backup (forums.crackberry.com)
- Transforming Your Smartphone or Tablet into a Small-Business Machine (staples.com)
- Cloud backup - With full system restore? (community.spiceworks.com)
- Data Backup: Cloud Computing vs. On-Site Options (staples.com)
- Top 10 Cloud Security Threats In 2013 (cloudhq.net)
- Cloud Storage Strategies Could Reduce Data Loss (eweek.com)
RSS Feed