Watching porn is bad for your smartphone

[ayanavish]

Nearly one-quarter of malware on mobile devices comes from porn websites, according to a new study from Blue Coat, a Web security and optimization company.

Mobile users don't check out porn sites often -- less than 1% of all mobile traffic is pornography. But when they do go to those sites, the risk of inadvertently downloading malware to their devices increases three-fold. That makes watching porn on smartphones a far bigger threat than viewing porn on a PC.

Porn led to more malware on smartphones and tablets than e-mail spam, malicious websites, and fake apps combined.

Part of the problem, Blue Coat said, is that the nature of mobile devices makes differentiating legitimate sites from malicious ones a tricky task. There is no way to hover over shortened URLs to reveal their true destination, for example.

"No matter how tantalizing a link might look on a desktop, there are cues that you shouldn't go there, such as an address that just doesn't look safe," said Hugh Thompson, chief security strategist for Blue Coat. "When you click a link on a mobile phone, it's harder to know what form of Russian roulette they're playing."

Watching porn is bad for your smartphone - Feb. 11, 2013

 

[dexBG]

Nearly one-quarter of malware on mobile devices comes from porn websites, according to a new study from Blue Coat, a Web security and optimization company.

Mobile users don't check out porn sites often -- less than 1% of all mobile traffic is pornography. But when they do go to those sites, the risk of inadvertently downloading malware to their devices increases three-fold. That makes watching porn on smartphones a far bigger threat than viewing porn on a PC.

Porn led to more malware on smartphones and tablets than e-mail spam, malicious websites, and fake apps combined.

Part of the problem, Blue Coat said, is that the nature of mobile devices makes differentiating legitimate sites from malicious ones a tricky task. There is no way to hover over shortened URLs to reveal their true destination, for example.

"No matter how tantalizing a link might look on a desktop, there are cues that you shouldn't go there, such as an address that just doesn't look safe," said Hugh Thompson, chief security strategist for Blue Coat. "When you click a link on a mobile phone, it's harder to know what form of Russian roulette they're playing."

Watching porn is bad for your smartphone - Feb. 11, 2013

Most malware is PC based I believe .. a smartphone is pretty safe .. unless you are downloading a shady app for that.

Any decent smartphone with browser flash support can be safely used to "consume pornographic material" ...
The one threat is of cookies etc .. so use a incognito mode of your fav. mobile browser .. it will not store any such data.


The linked article says that phishing and false advertising are the main ways security can be compromised, easier than on a desktop.

Unless there is a zero day exploit which allows browser to run code on Android file system .. we are safe.


To be safe on a smartphone - (Androids)

1. Inspect app permission .. don't give you browser access to your address book or your gmail account.
2. Don't use the log in with your Fb account on every site you see this option. This is very risky.
3. Use incognito mode while surfing malware prone sites.
4. Don't signup on any website .. no pron is worth that.

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Infact, the chances of malware coming from ads is significantly higher than thru such sites. However, use chrome instead of the stock browser.

 

[sharktale1212]

^^ Use adblock. I always do even on my smartphone

 

[dexBG]

Infact, the chances of malware coming from ads is significantly higher than thru such sites. However, use chrome instead of the stock browser.

What malware is that ? I am not aware of any web based malware affecting Android phones ?

 

[raksrules]

Phone screen is as it is too small for p0rn.

 

[manu1991]

@dexBG

On the top of my head, there was a bug in a lot of Samsung and some other android phones wherein a webpage could trigger an action which could make the phone dial a number without any confirmation. And if that number was the code for hard reset, your phone would basically erase everything without any confirmation (I personally tested it on a Galaxy Note and this is what happened). I guess Samsung must have fixed it in the next update.

 

[ayanavish]

^Android Malware On Galaxy S III And Other Samsung Devices: What You Need To Know - Chicago Technology | Examiner.com

 

[dexBG]

dexBG

On the top of my head, there was a bug in a lot of Samsung and some other android phones wherein a webpage could trigger an action which could make the phone dial a number without any confirmation. And if that number was the code for hard reset, your phone would basically erase everything without any confirmation (I personally tested it on a Galaxy Note and this is what happened). I guess Samsung must have fixed it in the next update.

Yes. that exploit was very quickly fixed. It was to do with Exynos chipsets only.