March 30th, 2023 | Updated on May 22nd, 2023
We have a lot of personal data in our smartphones these days which includes, financial details, account details, social media account details, personal information, etc.
We also use our smartphone for work related activities and store crucial work data in the phone as well.
We use our phone for almost every possible activity in our day-to-day life and are highly dependent on it. But do you know that these phones are also vulnerable to malware and viruses just like computers and hence, need to be protected on priority.
Viruses are a type of malware that replicate themselves and spread throughout the entire mobile phone system. These viruses can impact your mobile’s performance and even compromise your sensitive information and data so that cyber criminals can benefit financially from it.
Here, we are going to tell you about the top five viruses that can infect your mobile and five tips to identify and eliminate them. We will provide you tips on how to identify any kind of virus on your smartphone in the first place.
Can My Mobile Get Viruses?
Your mobile phone consists of operating systems like Android or Apple iOS and thus there are differences in the form of viruses that affect these mobile devices based on the kind of operating system which they have.
It is a bit tough for viruses to penetrate the iOS operating system because of its architecture and design, but the iOS operating system can still be hacked.
However, the Android mobiles are also designed and developed with protection and security from viruses in mind. But an important aspect to consider here is their dependency on the open-source code, which makes them an easy target for cyberattacks by hackers.
Another major vulnerability is that Android phones allow their users to access third-party apps which are not available in the Play Store. Cybercriminals today are super advanced and can launch a series of cyberattacks on your mobile.
The top five types of mobile viruses which can infect your phone:
1. Spyware
Spyware is an advanced virus which tracks your browsing activity first by spying on your day to day browsing activity and then steals your crucial and sensitive data or affects your mobile phone’s performance.
2. Trojan
As the name suggests, this type of virus hides or wraps itself inside an app to take control of your smartphone or affect your mobile phone and your device info.
3. Ransomware
The ransomware is the kind of virus which attacks your phone and takes control of it. After the control of your phone is with the hackers, it prevents you from accessing your mobile again unless you pay a ransom to the
hackers. The hacker may use your sensitive data like your videos or images to extort you for ransom.
4. Malware
Malware is the oldest form of viruses for devices which have hacker coded programs that steal your information or take control of your device without your permission.
5. Adware
Adware viruses are the newest form of viruses which are in the form of lucrative ads. Once the user falls trap of these ads and clicks on the link, then the hackers can access information on their mobile and further steal your sensitive data.
Mobiles and computers get these viruses in an equivalent way. The Top 5 ways in which phones get viruses:
- Clicking on the lucrative and innocent ads sent to your mobile phones which further takes you to an unsecured web page or downloads mobile malware to your mobile.
- Clicking on links or attachments from communication channels from unverified sources. These are most commonly sent to you as emails and SMS on your phone.
- Downloading malicious apps from an unverified source or unverified app store, which is usually not listed on Apple App Store or Google Play Store.
- Visiting multiple suspicious websites and browsing them regularly on your mobile phone, by ignoring security warnings from your device.
- Connecting your phone to an unsecured internet connection like public Wi-Fi where you mobile on the network becomes vulnerable for virus attack by hackers.
Always try avoiding the above 5 steps to protect your mobile for multiple virus attacks.
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