Security in Bluetooth and other Mobile Devices Assignment

Security in Bluetooth and other Mobile Devices - Assignment Example "Mobile devices  are attractive targets because they are well connected, often incorporating various means of  wireless  communications." (Zhang, 2008) These mobile phones can be the entity of the person or of the organization whose information has to be accessed. The only problem with a mobile device or blue tooth is that it is not as secure as other devices like laptops as it is not provided with hardware based roots of trust therefore the information or the data stored in these mobile phones can be easily accessed by the process of jailbreaking or rooting. The issues that arise due to the inefficiency and the lack of security encountered by mobile phone devices are not so extreme and can be countered if effective measures are taken to overcome the security threats that persist. "New research reveals 68 percent of mobile device owners who have not adopted financial apps are holding back due to security fear." (Software Immune System). The reason why these mobile phones are no t reliable because android phones can be easily hacked and iPhone was hacked before it even released raising a doubt about their security in the minds of all. The industry which I will take into consideration is banking because of the increasing security threats that are associated to it because of the use of mobile devices.The problem arises as only a limited number of people take time out to secure their phones while the rest leave them accessible to harmful software and hackers. Many users these days get their mobile phones jailbreaked or rooted so that they can have access to millions of apps available unaware of the fact that these apps can damage the security of the phone making it prone to malfunctioning. These phones which lack security increase problems for banks and other finance sector as theycannot limit access of the users to such applications, mobile devices or how the user utilizes the mobile phone. In order to keep mobile devices secure banks need to take initiates o n their own so that the integrity of the bank. Banks need to realize that these mobile devices provide an aggressive setting and those applications enabled on the phone are unsafe therefore banks need to take preventive measures on their own and not rely on their customers.Banks and designers who design software are aware of the ongoing security threat in their minds therefore 'public key cryptography' is ensured so that security remains intact but this is just not enough. Hackers and software designed to disrupt the system can alter the functioning of the applications. These have the capability to change the account numbers, bringing changes to accounts, starting false dealings, saving passwords and pin codes etc.more actions are needed so that secure the apps available on mobile phones whereas it is essential to take preventive security measures increasing the communication protocols.(Ahonen, 2008) The five steps that banks can take to ensure security are as follows. Firstly, in o rder to suspect and find out rare and unintentional activities that happens in the bank end through the means of "risk-based authentication and anomaly detection". Secondly to provide the mobile devices with entrusted applications this can comprise of various security structures. Thirdly banks can incorporate another device that can maintain the security adding more to the capability of the smartphone itself known as"Out-of-band authentication". Fourthly, by integrating