Many phishing attacks now are facilitated by the widespread use of mobile devices, Bob Stevens says.
Voluntary cybersecurity guidelines that the Department of Health and Human Services recently issued are a good start, but they neglect a major cybersecurity risk—the pervasive use of mobile devices.
That’s a big worry to Bob Stevens, vice president of federal systems at Lookout, a mobile security research and advisory firm that has analyzed more than 30 million apps.
The HHS guidance focused on desktop and laptop devices, Stevens notes. “In fairness to HHS, they see mobile devices as an endpoint, but the agency needs to not restrict the guidance to desktops and laptops, but to make sure guidance is extended to all mobile devices.”
Stevens also worries that HHS is not giving guidance to protect against phishing attacks, when many of those attacks now are being targeted against mobile devices, particularly smartphones. “There are multiple ways to phish on mobile devices,” he explains.
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