Can My Smartphone Get a Virus?
We’re used to fighting off tricky viruses that try to infect our computers, but can smartphones get viruses too? They can! Tech Talker explains and gives tips on how you can protect your mobile device from malware.
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Can My Smartphone Get a Virus?
Can my smartphone get a virus?
I hear this question a lot. It seems odd that we hear all the time about computers getting viruses or malware, but it isn’t too often that you hear of a mobile phone getting a virus. But it happens. Phones are not immune to viruses.
That’s why today, I’ll be talking about phone viruses and vulnerabilities that affect the major phone operating systems such as Android, iOS, BlackBerry‘s QNX, and the Windows Phone.
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Hopefully, you’ve listened to my episodes on how to remove viruses, how to prevent them, and the different types of viruses your computer can catch. If you haven’t, go ahead and do it now, I’ll wait….
Why Are There So Many Infected Computers and So Few Sick Phones?
OK, so the main question is how could there be so many viruses infecting computers, but so few instances of infection when it comes to phones?
The answer lies in how you install software onto your device.
Generally speaking, if you want to install an app onto your phone, you will need to go through some sort of app store – such as Google Play for Android devices or the App Store for Apple iPhones.
When a developer signs up to submit an app to one of these marketplaces, they generally have to give up their personal information. When they submit their app, the code gets reviewed by the company in charge of the store. Only after a series of checks can an app be published in the store for users to download.
Now let’s compare this process to computer programs. I could write a program right now and post it online. Anyone could download and run it against the wishes of their antivirus and that’s it. There’s no review of the code, no need for the developer to give up their personal information. While this makes developing software easier, it definitely makes for software that is much more insecure and troublesome.
However, even though there is a pretty rigorous review process for apps, things can still get by the checks that the reviewers use. This has happened for every store and when it is discovered the app is generally removed right away.
Another protection against malware in phones is that apps are kept separate from the main operating system. This makes it so the apps can’t gain access to the operating system to make changes throughout. Where things get sticky is when users jailbreak, or root their devices. Once they gain access to the inner functioning of their device, they can install programs that have access to the operating system, and install apps whose code hasn’t been approved.
While this action gives you full control of your device, and can give you some pretty awesome features that the manufacturer left out, it can expose your device to malware. So how safe is your smartphone? Read on to find out.
How Safe Is Your Smartphone?
Android: Unfortunately Android is probably the least secure mobile operating system. Why, you ask? Well it’s open source, meaning the code behind it is available for anyone to look at. This makes writing malicious programs much easier. It would be like seeing into a lock as you were picking it. What makes this problem worse is the fact that the Android OS is so popular. Hackers know if they spend the time writing malware, they can attack a ton of devices.
Now while there are antivirus apps you can install on your Android device, I haven’t found them to be very effective. The best thing to do is to look at what permission access a specific app is looking for. If you’re downloading a fitness app, for example, and it’s asking for access to your contacts and text messages, that’s a definite warning sign.
iOS: iOS has been much more immune to malware simply because it is a closed system. However, don’t think for a minute that hackers aren’t trying to write Apple-specific viruses. If this is something you’re really worried about, the best way to thwart a would-be malware infection is to always read app reviews, and to not jailbreak your device.
Windows and BlackBerry: Windows Phone and Blackberry are mostly shielded by their smaller number of users. In my research, I didn’t come across anything substantial in terms of malware for these devices. This could be a combination of the fact that they are less of a target (given their smaller market share) and the fact that they use closed operating systems.
With that, here are your Quick and Dirty Tips for keeping your phone squeaky clean:
- If something looks fishy, don’t install it.
- Always download your app from the official store for your device.
- Keep regular backups of the information on your phone so that if you need to restore your phone, you can!
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/tech-talkerWell, that’s it for today. Be sure to check out all my earlier episodes at quickanddirtytips tech-talker And if you have further questions about this podcast or want to make a suggestion for a future episode, post them on Facebook QDTtechtalker.
Until next time, I’m the Tech Talker, keeping technology simple!
