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Why is mobile a tool of crime ?

The creativity and Innovation of the great master Sir Martin Cooper has made a drastic change in the current generation of the world’s most interactive beings. Mobile phones in today’s world have completely replaced a personal computer or a laptop and is made smart for people to do things faster and smarter. Mobile Phones have changed the history of the technological world by bringing in a combination of techniques, to fulfill the basic necessity of today’s generation.

The Mobile phone has become a key role playing component in the life of a common man. Starting from 16 to 60’s without any age limit, the present generation has carved a everlasting path in the skilled growth of the mobile industry creating a boom in the electronic sector. The usage of mobile devices paved a path for the successful growth in the electronic industry.

Ever since the usage of Mobile Phones carved a booming path in common man’s life, It made it easy for the cyber criminals to use mobile as a medium or tool of attack. When growth of technology created a good impact in the life of a common man, The same technological growth was used to tamper the life of a common man.

Types of mobile phone related crimes

Vishing :

Vishing is the act of using the telephone in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The scammer usually pretends to be a legitimate business, and fools the victim into thinking he or she will profit.

• Purpose :
  • To extract sensitive information from the victim, by means of social engineering.
  • Cheating by personation.
  • Identity theft

Smishing :

Smishing is a security attack in which the user is tricked into downloading a Trojan horse, virus or other malware onto his cellular phone or other mobile device. smishing is short for “SMS phishing.”
Just like phishing, smishing uses cell phone text messages to lure consumers in. Often the text will contain an URL or phone number. The phone number often has an automated voice response system. And again just like phishing, the smishing message usually asks for your immediate attention.
In many cases, the smishing message will come from a “5000” number instead of displaying an actual phone number. This usually indicates the SMS message was sent via email to the cell phone, and not sent from another cell phone.

• Purpose :
  • To steel sensitive data from the victim’s mobile by using a malware.
  • Act of Social Engineering.
  • To track the victim’s device by sending a malware to the device

Lottery Scams :

A lottery scam is a type of advance-fee fraud which begins with an unexpected email notification, phone call, or mailing (sometimes including a large check) explaining that “You have won!” a large sum of money in a lottery.

• Purpose :
  • To make the victim believe that he has won a lottery and extract sensitive information from him.

The Blue Bugging :

This attack involves the virtual takeover of the victim’s phone by performing a backdoor mechanism. A backdoor is generally performed by a developer in the case of troubleshooting a problem, but this mechanism is also performed by attackers to gain access into the victim’s device by bypassing the security mechanism.

Blue Jacking :

It is a milder version of Blue bugging, it involves sending anonymous, unwanted messages to other users with Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. A Bluejacker uses a feature originally intended for exchanging contact details or Electronic-Business cards. The attacker adds a new entry in the address book, types in a message and sends it via Bluetooth

Blue Snarfing :

Bluesnarfing is the theft of data from a Bluetooth phone. The attacker, just by running the right software on their laptop, can discover the nearby phone, connect to it without confirmation and download confidential data. Even by turning off the Bluetooth a potential victim cannot be safe from being Bluesnarfed. As a device in hidden state may also be Bluesnarfable by guessing the device’s MAC address via a brute force attack.

Reference : www.google.com

Author : cialfor

Updated : 9/26/2016