Photo: Getty
If you’re wondering how to keep your cellphone secure, look no further than one of the oldest trick in the book: turn the phone off, then turn it back on.
Sen.King told the Associated Presshe has now made it a habit, doing it “probably once a week” or just “whenever I think of it.”
Experts confirmed to the AP that the simple act can help hinder hackers that may attempt to steal information from smartphones. Though it is not a foolproof way of preventing cybercriminals from accessing sensitive information, it can make it more difficult for them to sustain access and steal your data.
Companies like Apple and Google have developed security software strong enough to prevent malware from infecting core operating systems in their devices, but hackers have since adopted alternatives like “in-memory payloads,” which are more difficult to track, the AP reported.
A simple reboot would disrupt the hack. However, it turns out many people seldom power down their devices.
“Adversaries came to the realization they don’t need to persist,” Patrick Wardle, a security expert and former NSA researcher, told the AP. “If they could do a one-time pull and exfiltrate all your chat messages and your contact and your passwords, it’s almost game over anyways, right?”
“Zero-click” exploits, which do not require user interaction, are increasing as malware security in smartphones improves.
Getty
According to the NSA’s"best practices" guide for mobile devices, weekly reboots only work occasionally in preventing zero-click exploits. Regular software updates also are said to help prevent hacks.
Bill Marczak, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, said any unyielding hacker could send another zero-click exploit after a reboot.
“It’s sort of just a different model, it’s persistence through reinfection,” he told the AP.
source: people.com
