Security in New Generation Cell Phones - Research Paper Example

Security in New Generation Cell Phones Cell phones and other mobile devices accessories play a major role in the information technology revolution to the present generation. Cell phones have earned their rightful place in the technology market because of their portability and accessibility. As a result, several mobile technology manufacturers are competing to fit their cell phones with the most advanced internet software to roll out the process. Companies like LG, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, and Motorola are designing smart phones with 4G mobile networks to speed up internet reception and use. Technology in every new generation provides major improvements from the previous generations. In the cellular communications, there was first the 1G and 2G generations. These generations contributed to the provision of the internet for the mobile phones though the 3G dominated the scene. The third generation cell phone internet had advancements that made it stand up from the earlier versions of 1G and 2G. The 3G had the capacity to converge voice and the data with the wireless internet. This makes it suitable for transmitting data in high quantities. Additionally, migration towards the 4G technology has been witnessed. Regardless of these processes and developments, the security of cell phone remains paramount. Ensuring the security of the cell phones The continuity in the manufacturing and distribution of cell phones leads to the rise in the security risks in different ways. Users of electronic gadgets like cell phones should be more concerned about their safety. Lately, electronic devices such as the Apple’s iPhone latest version and the Google’s Android have committed themselves to the manufacturing and development of cell phones with 3G networks so that they possess the same features and functions of computers. Although this promotes great conveniences, it also comes with severe security risks. Both the new and future generations of cell phones require the setting up and update of security software. This software include firewalls, anti-virus software, operating system patches, anti-spam software, file encryption, and the anti-spyware software. This requires the observance of the basic home computer internet safety and guidelines. The revolution in the field of information technology has enabled most financial institutions to adapt mobile banking technologies to enlarge their customer bases. Cell phones users are required to conduct their business and financial transactions online. As a result, they will need to store their login passwords with the information pertaining to their credit card and personal details. With this trend, there will be more cases of online fraud, identity theft, more spam, digital forgery, data theft, and any other cyber crimes. Besides, it can also lead to the denial of disseminated service attack. This has the risk of disabling the network service supplier. Additionally, cell phones are prone to theft based on their portability compared to desktop computers. Since most theft cases occur unexpectedly, a cell phone user can lose a lot of information and data stored in the mobile device. In the event that the mobile device contains business and financial information of the user, the thief can use it to defraud the user of his or her finances. This is a major security concern. Additionally, the new generation cell phones come with applications that display the user’s location and movements. One such application is the opt-in text advertisements that give information on the whereabouts of the user round the clock. Hacker stalkers can use this information to trail their victims and even do felony acts to them. The new generation cell phones perform multiple things at the same time. One can use his or cell phone to do online shopping, communicate with friends, browsing the internet, and downloading ringtones, applications and programs. The implication of these is the persistent internet traffic. This opens doors for cyber criminals who look forward to making profits from the lucrative enterprise of circumventing safety protections for used in electronic devices like cell phones. Currently, there is an ongoing research on the development and distribution of software called malware. There is an assumption that the software has the capability of decongesting the internet traffic. However, the main driving force for the development and distribution of the software is to take advantage of cell phone users’ miseries and make huge profits out of it. Major issues surrounding mobile platform security Cell phone internet uses the wireless communication technology. Compared to wired transmissions, wireless communications are less secure. Since signals pass through the airwaves, intercepting them is easy especially by the use of a receiver or a transmitter (Zheng & Ni, 2006). The interception of wireless transmission signals in almost impracticable. The only way of avoiding this is encrypting the signals. This will render them useless to unlawful users. However, only the 3G and 4G mobile generations have the encrypting possibilities. The security issues at the forefront in the development of new technology cell phones include network limitation access and the user verification. Additionally, the utilization of different items by providers the user centered design bases pose fresh security challenges. The new generation technology cell phones such as the 4G use the wireless network, and this makes it more vulnerable. The vulnerability comes about from the invisible access, shared nature of the internet, unclear access and the state of natural broadcast. The development of wireless networks requires the consideration of various aspects. These include their capability to perform in devices with limited capacities, the states and the requirements of different users and the issues of the battery. However, the proposed network for operation for the 4G networks is heterogeneous in nature. This makes the systems become more vulnerability. The ability to allow for the availability of multiple connections ensures systems evaluation. This can help in recognizing the vulnerabilities. The cell phone wireless networks get connections to diverse interfaces by numerous providers. This makes the cell phone devices vulnerable to attacks from other connections. Therefore, at different intervals the driver related codes would attack the protocols of communication, and signal and transportation stacks. They will also attack such installed applications as updates features and file sharing. The erasure and deactivation of the cell phone devices is one of the surest ways of addressing these security issues to use them in multiple fronts again. The major security issue with the new cell phone generation technology is the lack of essential and practical applications for securing the systems against risks. The new generation cell phone technology allows for the use of more services in a unitary architecture. This can allow for the use of quality and sufficient service. However, when movement occurs towards an architecture that is user oriented will lead to the diversification and easy accessibility of the internet protocols. This makes the management and development of the relevant technology by the internet providers difficult. Conclusion The new generation cell phones have marvelous and attractive features that appeal to most users especially the youths. Additionally, they continue to revitalize the banking and communication industries. However, they also come with various security risks discussed above. There is need for combined and coordinated efforts from three groups of people to ensure the safety in the new generation cell phones. These are the cell phone manufacturers, the mobile service providers, and the users of the cell phones. On their part, the manufacturers should ensure the provision of a power source such as a battery the heavy load use that the cell phone handles each day. Besides, their cell phones should come along with the necessary software for protection against various security risks. The mobile phones provider in their part should restrict the transmission of services between communication lines that involves the use of infected cell phones. This will help to prevent huge denial attacks of the service in their network. Everybody using a cell phone must ensure that his or her personal safety becomes the first priority. The main reason why cyber criminals succeed in defrauding the new generation cell phone users is the lack of security of the users, communications, and transmissions of bulky data and the frequent and regular use. The users also need to follow the basic internet rules of safety. One such rule requires the internet users to disconnect the internet connectivity when not in use. Read More