Chapter 11
What You Need to Do about Security
WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER
- Defining the mobile application security models
- Working with the Windows Phone 7 security APIs
- What are ‘best practices’ for security?
To many smartphone users, security is probably the last feature on their minds. Indeed, when consumers decide which phone to buy, they probably care more about applications, the display, battery life, wireless signal strength, and multimedia experiences. The user is likely to wonder why security is even important. Many will think that security is something that security-obsessed people worry about, but that doesn’t matter in the real world.
The truth is that security threats are real. When the first mobile phone malware appeared back in February 2004, it didn’t do much harm other than display a message, “Caribe,” every time the user turned on the phone. But it quickly spread itself to other Symbian-based phones when they were within range of infected Bluetooth communication networks. Since then, cyber-criminals have created and modified more mobile malware to attack smartphones. The damage can include erasing user data, locking down the phone OS, stealing bandwidth, or even pilfering users’ confidential information. In November 2010, it was reported that more than a million cell phones in China had been attacked by a “zombie” virus, which can send users’ Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) information to the hackers. The zombie virus can also automatically send out text messages ...
