The mad rush to connect every consumer gadget in the world to the Internet has created a more serious problem: Many of these gadgets are woefully inadequate when it comes to security protection from viruses, theft and other crimes. Recent tests of new TV products by Mocana, a The analysts at Mocana were so amazed by the results of their research that last month they announced a new “ Some are calling the rise of new Web-enabled consumer products the “new frontier” for the hacking community. And the threat is not confined solely to TV sets. Thieves like to operate where there are more people to scam. And there is no bigger audience in the world right now than the mushrooming herd of smart-phone users. As documented last fall by the Spanish security firm S21sec, cybercriminals were able to capture critical banking information by sending innocent text messages that allowed crooks to monitor financial transactions after users opened the deceptive texts. Security experts are beginning to see the same malware attacks on computers being duplicated in the smart-phone market as well, which is a chilling trend. The mobile smart-phone is a hacker’s dream come true. Not only can crooks obtain lots of important personal data such as your phone number and your contacts, they can also easily learn financial details and where you are at any given time. Yikes. As firms like Mocana and S21sec grapple with the rising tide of security threats, it is likely that the exploding growth of consumer devices with Web connectivity will far outpace them. In this technology version of “Spy vs. Spy,” we can only hope that the white hats stay ahead of the black.
TV and phone open new doors to crime
TV Show Producer Now Writing Tech Column
Mark Albertson, Executive Producer of the nationally syndicated TV program "Tech Closeup," is now writing a regular column on technology for the San Francisco Examiner. Mr. Albertson's column is available online at http://www.examiner.com/x-27653-SF-Technology-Examiner.
