Last Update: February 28, 2023, 09:57 IST
Malicious apps often target the activities of children and teenagers.
Cyber criminals can take advantage of malicious apps by sneaking into your DMs, taking advantage of bring-your-own-device policies, and targeting teens and gamers with phones.
The end of 2022 saw the release of some game-changing applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot and DALL-E 2 image generator These advanced AI techniques could aid scammers and create new mobile threats, a study on Monday said. The new report said.
According to the 2023 Consumer Mobile Threat Report by cyber-security research firm McAfee, cybercriminals can take advantage of malicious apps by getting into your DMs, taking advantage of Bring Your Own Device policies, and targeting teenagers and tween gamers with phones.
“Our mobile devices are an essential part of our daily lives now more than ever. They allow us to access a wealth of information and entertainment and provide the freedom to be productive from virtually anywhere,” Steve Grobman said the chief technology Officer, McAfee.
“Unfortunately, they give cyber criminals more access to potential victims,” he said.
About 6.2 percent of threats identified on Google during 2022 were in the “communications” category, primarily malware in the form of SMS apps.
But even legitimate communication apps can create an opportunity for scammers using deceptive messages to trick consumers into clicking on malicious links.
While these messages sometimes contain spelling or grammatical errors or use strange phrases, the emergence of AI tools such as ChatGPT can help scammers clean up their spelling and grammar mistakes, making scam messages less likely to appear. It becomes difficult to spot, the report said.
The seriousness of these communication threats is also evident in the amount of 66 percent of adults who have been messaged by a stranger on social media, including 55 percent who have been asked to transfer money.
Furthermore, the report states that about 23 percent of the identified threats were in the “Tools” app category.
Work-related apps for mobile devices such as PDF editors, VPNs, messaging managers, etc. are great productivity boosters, these types of apps tend to be targets for malware because people expect the app to require permissions on their phones.
Furthermore, the report mentions that nearly 9 percent of the identified threats were games from app categories such as Casual, Arcade, and Action.
Malicious apps often target activities that children and teens enjoy, such as gaming, video creation, and social media management.
In 2022, the most common type of threat found in the gaming category was invasive adware apps that display excessive ads while you are using the app and even when you are not using the app.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)