Since its emergence in 2007, Android has captured the entire mobile market. More than 2 billion people own an Android smart phone. With such a large segment of people in the hands of a single ecosystem, cybercriminals have naturally relished an opportunity to infect Android phones with ransomware.
As ransomware attacks are rising, the number of attacks on Android phones is increasing too. The question remains, how to save your Android phone from such malicious malwares?
How It Comes in Contact With Your Phone
Desktop ransomware attacks are caused as attackers find a chink in the security armor of your Windows. In Android, attackers employ social engineering techniques like phishing campaigns. A phishing campaign encourages you to type your critical and private information including login details to a third party website or app.
They are disguised in such a way that many people are fooled into the deception. Many hackers develop pretty mobile apps and infect them with a ransomware. As a user downloads the app, it grants authorization to the attacker to take control of the mobile’s OS. It then modifies settings and apps after which user is unable to use the mobile. Other ransomware campaigns include spam emails and fake software updates.
How to Save Your Android Phone?
Google Updates regularly improve its ransomware removal measures. By constantly updating your phone, you can get latest security features that can help detect and remove ransomware.
One of the most common mistakes people engage in is to download any app without any research. Just a click on the “download” button can be costly and make you remove ransomware. Therefore, download apps and games from only trustable and verified sources.
Any strategy to tackle a malware is incomplete without the back up of your data. There are no guarantees in ransomware removal cases regarding the intent of the attack regarding your data. Thus, store your critical mobile data on either a portable hard disk or on cloud storage.
With such a dangerous threat of ransomware, you should be careful and follow the above advices to improve your mobile security.
