Around this time of year, many people receive new devices and gadgets as gifts, and some of those gadgets turn out to be smart phones. But smart phone security is very tricky to pin down, as there are multiple vendors and platforms to take into consideration, not to mention the speed at which smart phone technology is evolving. So when I came across this Top 10 iPhone Security Tips whitepaper (pdf), I knew that it was probably a good thing that it attempts to target a specific platform. However, after reading through it, I think that many of the things McAfee points out can also apply to a Droid or BlackBerry. And so, by stripping away the platform-specific details, we arrive at a pretty decent list of things a new smart phone owner can do to achieve some basic smartphone security:

• Enable passcode/lock

Mobile phones have had passcode capabilities for a long time. Make sure you’re using it, since a passcode lock is often the first line of defense.

• Erase all data before a return, repair, or resale

If you will no longer be the owner in possession of the device, it’s best to erase everything you can first. Everything. If you can do a factory reset, do so, because your phone constantly records information and there is always some data that isn’t easily found, let alone purged.

• Regularly update firmware

I’m guilty of not doing this– sometimes the update notification will sit around for a week before I finally give it permission to run. But this is one of the easier things to do, since it’s mostly automatic.

• Don’t run shady apps

Just like with a personal computer, if you run unknown or untrusted applications, you substantially increase your chances of getting got. So if you don’t want to get got, be prudent about what apps you run on your device.

• Take advantage of the web browser’s security

For smartphones with native web browser apps, be sure to use the security features to clear caches and stored passwords when it’s necessary. Just because a web browser is on a mobile device doesn’t mean it’s a security lightweight. Check out the “settings” or “options” to see just how much your mobile phone web browser can do to help you out.

• If you’re not using it, disable it

I’m also guilty of leaving stuff running unnecessarily. Be careful about leaving debug mode enabled, Bluetooth and wifi on, etc. Generally speaking, the more doors you leave unlocked, the lighter you sleep at night. Turning off unused services when they aren’t needed is a good habit to form, even outside the realm of security.

• Secure that email

In addition to providing native web browser apps, many smartphones also come bundled with a native email app. Check the settings for these apps to take advantage of any security features they’re offering (such as SSL/TLS).

• Use a phone tracker

The GPS can be bad for privacy if you are reckless with it. However, it can also be a powerful tool to help you recover a lost/stolen device. I believe the iPhone 4 has a built in device-finding service (complete with a remote wipe). But even if you have a different smartphone, there is almost certainly an app that provides some remote tracking for lost devices (i.e. Where’s My Droid app for Android).

This certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, but it should be enough to get both new and old smartphone users thinking about general mobile device security in a healthy way.

In light of all the discussions about maintaining a secure posture on trusted certificates, we oftentimes forget about the little guys. In this case, I’m talking about our mobile devices. We tend to forget that these devices are just as vulnerable as our desktop/laptops. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to manage the certificates on these devices. But if you own an Android device and would like to take a little more control over what your device is trusting, here’s how you can do it.

Remove a CA Cert from Android System
The bouncycastle library will be required, you can grab it here:
BouncyCastle Library

You’ll need the Android-SDK as well in order to utilize ADB. It can be found here if you don’t already have it:
Android SDK
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I recall back in the 80s, when “computer virus” was a new term, “antivirus software” hadn’t been invented yet, nobody had coined the term “malware”, and Apple was still running incomprehensible TV ads.

It’s ironic: Apple computers were the predominant home computers when computer virii and malware were invented. And yet, the first malware kit for the MAC OS (or, more accurately, OS X), Weyland-Yutani BOT, was only released earlier this month. For obvious reasons, I’m not about to download it and play around, but preliminary reports indicate that this kit may have caused a significant increase in OS X malware. And supposedly, kits for iPad and Linux are just around the corner.

To be honest, I find the iPad more disturbing. An increased awareness of mobile OSes in the black hat community can only mean more malware for those platforms. Various experts have been predicting widespread malware in mobile devices like phones and tablets for some time now. With the release of Weyland-Yutani BOT, we’re that much closer. The exact development cycle for such kits is hard to pin down, but a spike in mobile device malware is likely in the very near future. If you haven’t already, now would probably be a good time to look at anti-malware for all of your computing devices – Weyland-Yutani BOT is just the beginning.

OpenVPN isn’t anything new. But today I finally overcame a hurdle I had with trying to connect to our company VPN via my Android device. The OpenVPN for android project isn’t anything new; it’s actually been in the works since late 2009 if you follow it all the way back through a couple forks.

The main issue that was holding me up wasn’t anything to do with Android-OpenVPN port itself. It was simply to do with the Android device I was using (thanks Samsung for crapping on us with the Galaxy S devices). A recent ROM update finally put the final pieces I needed into motion for being able to utilize OpenVPN. The main holdback was the lack of tun in the kernel of my Android build.

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