NEW DELHI: Mobile phones users in the country will soon be able to get a shield from malware attack by just downloading a software developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology.
The hacking of mobile phones, which contains sensitive personal and banking data, is a major security threat worldwide and a recent report by Kaspersky has estimated that around 5,88,000 mobile users worldwide were targeted by hackers between August 2013 and July 2014. India is also considered the fourth most infected country frequently facing threat from the hackers.
MKavach (Shield) not only provides security cover from the malware that steal personal data and credentials but can also help in tracking lost or stolen mobile device using the unique Technology. Like a spam mail, the mobile users can also block unwanted calls and SMS. An officer in the security establishment said mobile banking Trojans were very common and many users had been duped by the hacking group. He pointed out that malicious content laced with Trojan accounted for 57.08 per cent of all detections, which indicated that phones were vulnerable and could be easily manipulated by miscreants.
“Those who use mobile phones to make online payment can become easy target of hackers who randomly target users worldwide. If we take the estimated figure of approximately 55 crore active SIM cards and mobile phones in the country, this itself provide a huge database for the hackers to launch random or targeted attacks,” the official added.