<\/p>\n
A Department of Homeland Security-funded product designed to better protect mobile-phone users from phishing is becoming available to government and private-sector clients, the department said Thursday.<\/p>\n
DHS\u2019s Science and Technology Directorate, which partially funded the tools made by mobile security company Lookout, hailed the product\u2019s ability to block phishing attempts and detect malware lurking in mobile applications. The beefed-up product, Lookout Mobile Endpoint Security, is now available for Android and iOS operating systems, the department said.<\/p>\n
Phishing offers hackers a cheap and easy foothold into a network by exploiting people\u2019s trust in the internet. The rate at which victims are falling for phishing attacks on mobile devices has grown an average of 85 percent annually since 2011, according to a study by Lookout, which is based in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
DHS is trying to lessen the threat to mobile users, including those in government, by investing in Lookout\u2019s technology, which the department said inspects all outbound network connections but does not read message content.<\/p>\n
The technology will \u201cgreatly increase the security of the federal government\u2019s mobile systems for mission-critical activities,\u201d S&T program manager Vincent Sritapan said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply managing a mobile device is not enough to protect sensitive government information,\u201d Sritapan added. \u201cThe device also must have mobile endpoint security that alerts IT and security personnel to potential attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mobile-protection technology targets another common hacking scheme in which attackers lace popular mobile apps with malware. Last year alone, security specialists removed 700,000 malicious apps from the Google Play store.<\/p>\n
In announcing the newly available product, DHS cast malicious apps as a clear and present danger to federal IT networks.<\/p>\n
\u201cVulnerabilities discovered in new devices and apps may be used by hackers as vectors to access sensitive government information and attack legacy enterprise network systems,\u201d the department said. Government mobile devices are an attractive avenue to attack backend systems containing data on millions of Americans and sensitive information relevant to government functions.<\/p>\n
Lookout plans to add several security features to the mobile-security product, according to DHS, including greater detection of things like man-in-the-middel attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Department of Homeland Security-funded product designed to better protect mobile-phone users from phishing is becoming available to government and private-sector clients, the department said Thursday. DHS\u2019s Science and Technology Directorate, which partially funded the tools made by mobile security company Lookout, hailed the product\u2019s ability to block phishing attempts and detect malware lurking in … <\/p>\n