This blog is to inform the general public about the existence of vulnerabilities in mobile shopping applications and a few safety tips to improve data security.
Trendy “SHOPPING ON THE GO!!” As we have already blogged previously, the convenience of online shopping, especially mobile shopping, is coupled with its own risk.
Many shopping portals promote their mobile applications over and above their websites, as smartphone usage continues to increase at a relentless pace.
However, the security of such mobile shopping applications and their technical strength in protecting the users’ personal data like credit card information, email address, etc., are of critical importance. A study from AppVigil reveals that most of the e-commerce applications in India are vulnerable to attacks, with shopping applications topping the list.
With the festival season already underway, the exciting promotional offers and special discounts from emerging or well-established mobile shopping portals may tempt users to such an extent that they become excessively casual about their own data security.
Just to re-iterate, cyber criminals are always on the prowl, availing of all possible routes to compromise a user’s device. Exploiting a vulnerable shopping application would be an easy way for the cyber criminals to intrude on to the victim’s device and execute their malicious behaviour.
Here are a few tips to ensure a safer mobile shopping experience:
- Always select a reputed shopping portal
- Think twice before you save any of your card information
- Minimize card and location details saved in an application
- Do not open any unwanted advertisements or messages from an unknown seller or portal
- Install a reputed mobile security product to stop security exploitation of your device
Images courtesy of:
i-deals.in
computerworld.com
Senior Threat Researcher, K7TCL
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