Smartphones have become a mine of personal information, holding bank data, credit card information and addresses, making them the preferred target for cybercriminals, experts warn. "Cybercriminals go where there is value, and they have understood that the smartphone has become the preferred terminal for online shopping and payment," said Tanguy de Coatpont, head of the French branch of international anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Ransomware, which seizes control of computers and demands money to unblock users' data, has already started to target smartphones.
Now the devices are also being sought after as a gateway to key information about its user, experts at the phone industry's largest annual trade fair said. Cybercriminals have progressed from smartphone ransomware attacks to using Trojan Horse malware that can steal the login credentials of mobile banking users, said Fabien Rech, the head of the French division of Intel Security.
Using the stolen credentials, thieves can then log in to the victim's account remotely and transfer money out. "We see more and more attacks against banking apps," said Rech.
There was a 17 percent increase in attacks targeting banking apps last year around the world, according to Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET.
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