Mobile Technology and Telecommunication Networks - Essay Example

Mobile Technology Introduction In today’s technologically advanced society, many people own a mobile phone or at least two mobile devices. The latest trend in mobile technology has brought about the use of smart phones due to their numerous advantages and applications. However, mobile phones especially smart phones come with different disadvantages that can cause harm to human beings. Though very efficient, the smart phones have drawbacks that hamper on their convenience and these impediments are related to the security of the users and the information contained in these phones (Lambrinoudakis et al 158). Smart phones such as the iPhone do not support SIM cards that have not been activated for the specific phone as at the time of its acquisition, and this implies that it is often impossible to share the phone with any other person who has not registered the SIM card with the phone. The buyers of this smart phone are also restricted by some limitations slapped on them by the manufacturers, which unnecessarily bind them on how they operate the phones. For example Apple users are required to subscribe to them for two years and this involves complying with high data rates. Moreover, the iPhone lacks applications that can be applied by third parties or what is usually known as third-party applications as it only has web-based applications. This makes it difficult for parties to install the applications on their own. The power requirements of smart phones are also higher as compared to other conventional phones in the data market. The extra power requirement translates to large batteries which are bulky for the phones thus shorter periods of usage and also added expenses on electricity bill. In addition, the sustained use of smart phones has been found to be the major cause of eye strain to individuals especially teenagers. The daily use of mobile technology gadgets such as the smart phones and e-readers causes the muscles in the eyes to tighten up and dry. The cause of this is because smart phones have smaller screens as compared to other devices like laptops and thus have smaller sizes of font leading to squinting in order to get the best view of what is written on the screen of the phone. The other cause of eye strains is failure by the users of the mobile technology to adopt the recommended screen distance when using the mobile devices making the eyes to work harder than it should leading to the strain. In addition, as already stated at the introduction, the major challenge on the use of smart phones is the lack of security of data and privacy in their use. This stems from the fact that smart phones can easily be compromised through attacks from the internet that may come in the form of viruses, worms and Trojans (Newman 29). This infection may also come from compromised personal computers at the time of synchronizing data while other forms can infect similar phones through Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN). Smart phones that have been attacked become sources of malicious attacks to the telecommunication sectors, for example, the smart phones can be used to manipulate smart phone zombies to send marketing or junk messages through short messaging as spams. The compromised phone spams free of any costs thus irritating owners who may not desire to receive such messages (Miller 228). Furthermore, mobile phone technology has been used to steal identities or conduct what is usually known as spoofing. Identity theft through smart phones is easy as once a smart phone has been compromised, the attacker uses the owner’s identity to conduct any activity in the stolen name or identity. An attacker who has stolen the identity of a smart phone owner can use Voice-Over-Internet Protocol from the internet and make use of a smart phone zombie to pretend to be the owner of the calls made. Additionally, smart phones have also been used for remote wiretapping where a smart phone zombie records the conversation of the real owner and report to those that are spying on the actual owners (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse). Since there is difficulty in synchronizing recording and reporting, the encrypted traffic can be passed on along other legal traffic over the internet thus evading detection by the owners or the relevant authorities. The real smart phone owner will not be able to detect that another person has been spying on him. The remote wiretapping and spying on smart phone users has been used for espionage and blackmailing purposes through access to sensitive or classified information. Due to the many security related issues that come with the use of smart phones, it is important that there are devised means which the phone can be put into better use without compromising the security of users and their identities. There must be efforts aimed at making the phones less vulnerable to the machinations carried out over the internet. As persons have often favored functionality of the phones over the security that the phones offer, it is important that the smart phones are hardened in terms of their functionality to make the less vulnerable to attacks. One way of reducing the security nightmare posed to smart phones is by reducing the attack surface of smart phones. For example, the computer part of the smart phone can be turned off when one is using the conventional features of a phone for example making a call or sending a text message. Smart phones can also be made secure by hardening the operating systems under which they operate (Oriyano and Robert 229). Such security features that may be adopted are for example allowing the display of the number of the person calling the owner or lighting up of the screen when a person is dialing. Users of smart phones can easily detect malicious user-level code with enhanced or hardened operating systems. Smart phone hardening can also be achieved through the combination of the SIM card tool kit with the Trusted Platform Module (TCG) to ensure that the hardware employed by the phone is secure such that there is no need for additional security chips. Through this, applications can be loaded into the SIM card without changing the composition of the GSM receiver. Smart phones can also be protected from security threats through the internet side protection where malware defense mechanisms are deployed in the smart phone. The internet service providers will be required to ensure that the devices that are attached to their networks are properly shielded and patched as this would enable the defense of smart phones from known vulnerabilities or security threats as well as the unknown ones. In conclusion, in order to protect smart phones from security threats, telecommunication networks need to introduce mechanisms for detecting misbehavior and the mechanisms to resume the devices to normal operations when the misbehavior occurs. This requires the telecommunication networks to collect and analyze the rates at which the base station’s traffic is blocked either full blocking of internet access or drop in the rate of data packet uptake. Call centers must also be on the lookout for any change in the load information characterized by unusual client behaviour. Abnormal end user behaviours can be an indicator of a compromised telecommunication network which ultimately affects smart phone users. Such behaviour may be for example endless call initiations followed by abortion of the call, calls that are connected but lack the voice traffic are data transmission that are prolonged and are from or directed towards a single user. Therefore, though the recommendations to reduce the security threats of smart phones may come at a considerable cost, it is important that investments to be made that will lead to long-term savings that are beneficial to the users. Works cited Lambrinoudakis, Costas, G Pernul, and A M. Tjoa. Trust, Privacy and Security in DigitalBusiness: 4th International Conference, Trustbus 2007, Regensburg, Germany, September 4-6, 2007 : Proceedings. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Miller, Michael. Is It Safe?: Protecting Your Computer, Your Business, and Yourself Online. Indianapolis, Ind: Que, 2008. Print. Newman, Robert C. Computer Security: Protecting Digital Resources. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2010. Print. Oriyano, Sean-Philip, and Robert Shimonski. Client-side Attacks and Defense. Waltham, MA: Syngress, 2012. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Fact Sheet 2b: Privacy in the Age of the Smartphone. 2013. Web. April 24, 2013 < https://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs2b-cellprivacy.htm> Read More