With smartphones and tablets becoming a key target for scammers and hackers, the Department of Consumer Protection yesterday urged the public to install antivirus and anti-theft software on their electronic devices following tests showing loopholes in the security of three popular Android phones.
The tests were conducted by the non-profit Institute for Information Industry’s CyberTrust Technology Institute in October last year using the Open Web Application Security Project’s Top 10 Mobile Risks at the request of the department.
It ran the test on the three most popular Android smartphones at the time: HTC’s New One, Samsung’s Note 3 and Sony’s Xperia Z One.
According to the test results, Sony’s Xperia Z One was the least secure with six types of security vulnerabilities, including lack of a data protection mechanism for its built-in Notes application and its BookU application’s plain-text transmission of user names and passwords.
It was followed by HTC’s New One with four security flaws and Samsung’s Note 3 with three, both of which store the contents of their Notes applications in the SD memory card in plain text, which could significantly increase the risk of data leak.
“In July last year, the UN’s International Telecommunications Union warned that the vulnerabilities in mobile phones could allow hackers to remotely control at least 500 millions phones. Recent statistics compiled by the Executive Yuan’s Office of Information and Communication Security also indicated that cybercrime has been moving from computers to smartphones and other handheld devices,” Department of Consumer Protection Director-General Liu Chin-fang (劉清芳) told a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
Liu said that while all of the three smartphone vendors have since rolled out updates for the applications in question to address the security loopholes, the department hoped the test results would bring the issue of information security to the attention of other smartphone manufacturers and prompt them to voluntarily conduct similar tests on their own products.
CyberTrust Technology Institute principal engineer Hung Kuang-chun (洪光鈞) said all of the 13 aforementioned security flaws could put users of the devices at a greater risk of personal information leaks and malware attacks.
“If users of the three tested smartphones store their bank account numbers and other personal financial information in the Notes application before downloading a malicious app, hackers could easily gain access to the information and hack into their bank accounts,” Hung said.
Senior consumer ombudsman Wang Te-ming (王德明) said the reason the department only tested Android smartphones was because the operating system was open source and was used by the majority of phone manufacturers.
“It does not mean that Apple’s iOS operating system is more secure than Android,” Wang said, adding that the department also plans to test iPhone’s security after relevant government agencies finish drawing up phone security legislation.
Wang offered three smartphone security tips for phone users: keep their phones’ operating system and applications up to date, install antivirus applications on their phones, and refrain from installing applications from unknown sources and clicking on potentially malicious or fraudulent links.
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