cyber security
16
MICA MESSENGER
‘MOBILE FIRST’ 
WARNING 
AS PHONE EMAIL, SMS, 
MESSAGING ATTACKS SURGE
Y
our phone is at risk as 
cybercriminals shift to a 
“mobile-first attack strategy,” 
having discovered you are far 
more likely to fall victim on 
your phone than a larger device. And 
given the amount of time we spend 
on our phones, an “insidious new 
attack vector — the pairing of social 
engineering with mobile devices,” is 
making the threat worse.
Today’s new report from the research 
team at Zimperium warns attacks 
on tens of millions of phones are 
now moving “beyond just traditional 
banking and payment fraud,” to “more 
treacherous” mishing (mobile phishing) 
lures that include “the downloading 
of malware capable of hijacking OTP 
(one-time-passwords) and verification 
codes, mimicking screen interfaces and 
the ability to steal enterprise application 
credentials.”
Behind this threat is a change of tactics, 
as devious new methodologies are 
developed, tested and then rolled 
out. This includes malicious links in 
emails that direct to legitimate websites 
when opened on PCs but dangerous 
websites when opened on mobiles, 
given it’s so much harder to detect on 
a small screen, and the increasing use 
of Quishing attacks, where QR codes 
You are 
far more 
likely to fall 
victim on 
your phone 
than a larger 
device. 
Zak Doffman
Forbes Contributor

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