Skycure has released a Mobile Threat Intelligence Report advising shoppers to beware of mobile threats while browsing in both physical and online stores.
According to this quarter’s Skycure analysis, the riskiest shopping mall to use a mobile device at is Fashion Show mall in Las Vegas. Here, 14 Wi-Fi networks were found to be malicious or risky to connect to. The second riskiest mall in the US for mobile devices is Tyson’s Corner Center in McLean, Virginia.
Meanwhile, researchers at Skycure also noticed that mobile shopping dangers are not limited to dangerous Wi-Fi in malls. It is to be noted that malicious apps masquerading as legitimate online stores or ways to get online shopping bargains also appear this time of year. This is to lure unsuspecting shoppers eager to make a quick purchase on their phones or tablets.
Commenting on the development, Yair Amit, CTO and co-founder of Skycure disclosed that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a recipe for cyber-scams.
The first brings large groups of people using their mobile phones to one place. The second attracts people who might overlook security to get a better deal. Unfortunately, mobile threats exist for shoppers whether they are shopping in a store, or on a mobile device from the comfort of their own home or workplace, ads Amit.
Top 10 Riskiest Shopping Malls for Mobile
According to industry statistics, 90 percent of shoppers used a mobile phone inside of a physical store to either look up product information, compare prices or check reviews online in 2015.
As a shopper, you should be beware of joining risky Wi-Fi networks while out shopping this holiday season. Hence, you should be careful while pulling out the smartphones from your pockets.
Malicious Wi-Fi are set up by cyber criminals specifically to steal shoppers data, while risky Wi-Fi networks are misconfigured and expose sensitive mobile data to hackers. You should note that both are potentially dangerous and will put mobile shoppers at serious risk.
The most popular data to steal are usernames and passwords. With that information, a hacker can then break into the shopper’s cloud accounts, corporate email and other systems, long after the visit to the mall.
Below is the list of the top 10 malls with highest number of suspicious Wi-Fi networks. All the shopping centers listed below were found to have five or more risky Wi-Fi networks. Shoppers can check for top mobile threats in any destination by visiting https://maps.skycure.com.
- Fashion Show, Las Vegas, NV
- Tysons Corner Center, McLean, VA
- Yorktown Center, Lombard, IL
- Town Center at Boca Raton, Boca Raton, FL
- Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, FL
- Mall of America, Bloomington, MN
- Houston Galleria, Houston, TX
- King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia, PA
- Westfield Garden State, Paramus, NJ
- Memorial City Mall, Houston, TX
The best way to avoid being hacked is to avoid browsing on the malls and other public places. If you want to check for products, you should verify them at home or office itself. The hackers have found that consumers verify reviews before purchase. Hence, they have laid a trap. You should not fall into the trap.
