In this lesson, we'll dive into the world
of mobile vulnerabilities and attacks.
Now, our mobile devices,
such as our smartphones, tablets, and wearables,
have become an indispensable part of our daily lives.
These devices are used to connect us, entertain us,
and increasingly secure and manage
our personal and professional data.
Yet, the convenience provided by these mobile devices
really is a double-edged sword,
because the very features that make them
so valuable to us as users
are also going to expose us to a myriad
of different vulnerabilities and potential attacks.
To secure our mobile devices
and the data they contain,
we have to first understand the mobile vulnerabilities,
including things like sideloading, jailbreaking, rooting,
and insecure connection methods,
as well as how to mitigate against these vulnerabilities,
and how we can use a mobile device management solution
to best minimize the other risks
associated with mobile devices.
Now, first, we have a vulnerability known as sideloading.
Sideloading refers to the practice
of installing applications on a device
from unofficial sources, which actually bypasses
the device's default application store.
While it may be useful in certain situations,
sideloading is also dangerous,
because it can introduce malware
or malicious apps onto a device,
because the application files are not scanned or verified
by your mobile device's provider's
app store submission process.
To ensure your device remains secure,
you should avoid sideloading, and instead,
always download apps from the official and trusted sources,
like your mobile device's official app store,
because these platforms often have
a strict review process in place,
to ensure all of their apps are free from malicious code.
Second, we can have a lot of vulnerabilities
added to our devices if we jailbreak or root our device.
Now, jailbreaking on iPhones, and iPads,
and rooting on Android-based devices
is considered to be a process that gives the users
escalated permissions on their devices,
and allows them to circumvent built-in security measures
provided by the device.
Jailbreaking and rooting is usually done so that a user
can have greater device customization capabilities,
but this process does expose your device
to potential security breaches, too.
After all, your mobile device manufacturer
regularly provides updates to their devices
to combat new vulnerabilities
that are being discovered all the time,
but if you jailbreak or root your device,
you're unable to install these updates,
and your device will be vulnerable
to these newly discovered attacks and exploits.
So, it's a good idea to keep
your device's original security setting,
to ensure you remain protected against any known threats.
Third, insecure connection methods
can be another large area of vulnerability for us.
Since our mobile devices will usually rely
on wireless connections like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
for their connectivity needs,
these devices can be exploited by an attacker
if you're using insecure connection methods
when you connect to those wireless networks or connections.
When you're using your mobile devices,
you should always avoid using open Wi-Fi networks
or pairing with unknown devices over Bluetooth,
because both of these can expose
your mobile devices to eavesdropping,
an on-path attack, unauthorized data access,
or other types of malicious attacks.
Instead of relying on open Wi-Fi networks,
you should instead use your device's
own cellular data connection,
because they are considered to be much more trustworthy
and secure than a Wi-Fi connection is.
Additionally, if you are going to use a Wi-Fi network,
you should use one that's protected
by a robust authentication system,
like one with a long, strong, and complex password,
or one that uses 802.1x authentication methods
for even higher levels of security.
Also, when you're using Bluetooth,
you want to connect to only known devices,
and ensure that your device is set to non-discoverable
when you're not pairing it.
So, now that we understand
some of the different vulnerabilities
and how we can mitigate them,
let's take a look at a specialized product
known as mobile device management.
Now, a mobile device management, or MDM solution,
will help to minimize the risk
associated with mobile vulnerabilities
by ensuring that regular patching,
device configuration management,
and best practice enforcement
are occurring within your organization.
Mobile device management solutions can be used
to conduct regular patching of your devices
by pushing any necessary updates to your devices,
in order to ensure that they're always equipped
with the latest security patches.
Another key function of a mobile device management solution
is to enforce configuration management
on all of your devices.
By relying on an MDM solution,
we can set a standardized configuration
for all of our devices,
to ensure that our devices are all meeting
our organization security benchmarks
and baseline configurations.
Also, we can use a mobile device management solution
to enforce the use of best practices
on our organization's devices.
For example, we can disable
a device's ability to sideload programs,
to detect if a device has been jailbroken or rooted,
and to force each device to use a VPN connection
when it connects back
to your organization's data repositories
over a Wi-Fi or cellular connection,
all by enforcing this inside of our MDM solution.
So, remember, our mobile devices
are powerful and convenient,
but they also are vulnerable
to a wide range of threats and attacks.
Whether it's the temptation to sideload that must-have app,
the allure of jailbreaking or rooting your device,
so you have additional functionalities
and configuration options,
or the oversight of connecting
to an unsecured Wi-Fi network.
The risk to your devices
and the data they contain are very real.
However, by understanding these different vulnerabilities
and implementing best practices,
and a robust mobile device management solution,
you can enjoy the benefits of your devices,
while still ensuring that your data remain safe and secure.