Is your device safe without a mobile security app?

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Thanks Adam. I have been waiting for information from Which? about security on phones and tablets. I’ve never used mine for any financial transactions and I’m quite happy to pay by cards for the time being, but I will certainly look at installing security apps.

I would be interested to know if there are any problems associated with installing security software on phones etc. In the early days, anti-virus software could significantly affect the performance of computers and Rapport, which my bank urges me to use, still does.

I think it perhaps worthwhile to recall that the friendly spy networks actually have a backdoor to all operating systems and to rely on the black hats not to find them is asking a lot. Accept that these systems are hackable, consider what you have on your smart phone to a minimum to retain functionality, and go with it.

The biggest protective feature is actually there are so many targets why pick on you. : )

However if you think this is alarmist talk on safety this week on the Register this part of an article:
“19 Jan 2016 at 21:50, Kieren McCarthy
The UK government’s official voice encryption protocol, around which it is hoping to build an ecosystem of products, has a massive backdoor that would enable the security services to intercept and listen to all past and present calls, a researcher has discovered.
Dr Steven Murdoch of University College London has posted an extensive blog post digging into the MIKEY-SAKKE spec in which he concludes that it has been specifically designed to “allow undetectable and unauditable mass surveillance.”
He notes that in the “vast majority of cases” the protocol would be “actively harmful for security.”
Murdoch uses the EFF’s scorecard as a way of measuring the security of MIKEY-SAKKE, and concludes that it only manages to meet one of the four key elements for protocol design, namely that it provides end-to-end encryption.
However, due to the way that the system creates and shares encryption keys, the design would enable a telecom provider to insert themselves as a man-in-the-middle without users at either end being aware. The system would also allow a third party to unencrypt past and future conversations. And it does not allow for people to be anonymous or to verify the identity of the person they are talking to.”

21/1/2016/
” Samsung sued over ‘lackadaisical’ Android security updates
Samsung is being sued by a Dutch consumer group for its alleged lackadaisical approach to security updates for its Android phones. The Dutch Consumers’ Association (DCA) claims that an incredible 82 per cent of Samsung phones do not have the latest version of Android installed. It blames the Korean giant for failing to prod …

DCA in this instance is actually the Consumentenbond with whom I have previously been in contact. In a small country they have a higher uptake of membership – around 400,000 subscribers than Which in the UK. The CEO is paid around 150,000Euro. They have a good governance system.

The request seems very valid and I am sure we would all support it. I assume that in the UK Samsung phones are dealt with similarly!?. And of course then wonder why we appear to be behind the curve what is going on.

What with the Belgian , and the Italian, consumers groups suing Apple, plus other cases you begin to wonder if we lack attack.

“DCA’s Demands from Samsung
The agency has requested the manufacturer to update all of its smartphone devices to the latest version of Android operating system for two years since the handset is purchased (not launched).
In some ways, the agency wants Samsung to treat software updates as part of the warranty that has its length mandated at two years in the European Union.
“[We are] demanding that Samsung provides its customers with clear and unambiguous information about this,” The DCA writes. “Also, [we are] demanding that Samsung actually provides its smartphones with updates.”

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