protection
Mobile threats are the new kids on the malware block – with the first viruses for mobile devices emerging as recently as 2004. However, over the last two years this problem has grown quickly – and it’s now clear that personal data stored on mobile devices excites cybercriminals more than data on desktops or laptops.
According to Kaspersky Lab’s statistics, nearly 15,000 new malicious programs for Android emerged in Q2 of 2012. As of today, over 90% of all existing mobile malware operate on this platform. As a result, owners of smartphones and tablets running Android now in some way resemble users of Windows, a long-standing leader in terms of the number of viruses. To make matters worse, sensitive information is often lost when a device goes missing. In May 2012, in collaboration with O+K Research, we conducted a survey of 11,000 users globally and found that 14% of users had been deprived of their smartphone at least once, due to loss or theft.
Kaspersky Mobile Security has offered effective protection against malware for Android smartphones since 2011. However, not even total protection against mobile viruses can guarantee the total security of your data. It is also vital to protect against unauthorized access if your device is ever lost or stolen. As a result we’ve greatly expanded our anti-theft features in the latest version of Kaspersky Mobile Security. These new features enable you to manage your lost mobile phone remotely by blocking it, deleting all private information and even by helping track it down using GPS. We’ve since developed two new features – Mugshot and Web Management – which add further protection to your data and increase your chances of getting your device back.
The dedicated Web Management portal will help to track the lost device and performs commands remotely: users can block their smartphone, delete information, perform a roll-back of the device to factory settings and search for the missing gadget by using information from the GPS module, nearby mobile phone towers or Wi-Fi networks. As before, this can still be done by sending a text message to the missing phone, but Web Management is a far more convenient way of doing this, with the text option offering a fall-back if the phone is disconnected from the Internet.
If you are certain that your smartphone has been stolen, the Mugshot feature can help collect more information about the thief. Best of all, using the phone’s own camera, it can try to take a photo of the new “owner”, caught red-handed with the stolen device. Just enter the Web Management portal and
give the appropriate command, then wait for the photo to be uploaded. However, we do not advise pursuing the criminal on your own: hand the photo to the relevant authorities and explain what has happened.
The combination of the latest Anti-Theft technology and highly effective antivirus tools ensures comprehensive protection for the data stored on your Android smartphone. It doesn’t matter whether the threat comes from modern malware or an opportunist grabbing your phone, Kaspersky Mobile Security makes every effort to ensure that confidential information does not fall into the wrong hands.
You can download the new Kaspersky Mobile Security from Kaspersky Lab’s website or the Google Play applications store.
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