Mobile technologies
Ownership and use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets has been high amongst most groups in the UK for some time but has also increased amongst older groups in recent years. Nearly a third of UK internet users
only access the Internet from mobile devices and the majority of the rest use a combination of desktops and mobile devices. Cyber criminals have seen these trends and mobile devices have seen a significant increase in malware
and other cyber threats.
Smishing
Smishing is the SMS equivalent of phishing where the user is tricked into downloading an infected file or making a payment. Smishing attacks have been growing for a number of years including the "Hi Mum" attack. This involves
a message saying it is your child ringing from a different number because they had to get a new phone and going on to reuest money for some invented emergency. This has been a very successful method for scammers. Other attacks
involve current events, with many falling victim to smishing attacks during covid that were pretending to be from vaccination centers.
Mobile trojans
Mobile phones are also vulnerable to being infected with a trojan virus allowing hackers to do a number of things such as install further malware, control parts of the device remotely like the microphone and camera or even
shut down the device. As with a regular trojan a user must download the infected file which will often appear to be a useful app or file.
Social media
Social media offers a number of benefits including being able to keep up with family and friends, get information, play games and more. However it has led to an 'always on' culture where people feel they need to respond
instantly and appear happy all the time. It frequently means more time spent online and less with actual people raising questions about whether it is social or unsocial. Increasingly, we are seeing the dangers of parts of the online
world becoming an echo chamber for extreme views normalising them and leading to higher levels of radicalisation. Online bullying is most likely to happen on social media platforms and has had extreme consequences. It doesn't
take much Googling to find stories of young people who have killed themselves as a result of cyber bullying. Sexual predators can use social media to try to contact young people.
The cost of social media accounts is generally your data. The Cambridge Analytica scandal saw personal data belonging to millions of Facebook users collected without their consent by British consulting firm Cambridge
Analytica, predominantly to be used for political advertising. There are ongoing concerns about how fake social media accounts are being used to influence elections.
4G, 5G and 6G
These terms refer to the generations of mobile networks. 4G allowed internet connection speeds that have made using the internet on the go a reality. 5G offers greatly improved speeds and lower latency enabling a variety of
Internet of Things uses and the implementation of smart cities. 6G will be exponentially faster still and is set to enable greater levels of automation.
Some people object to the construction of masts for the 5G spectrum with
some objections based on them being unsightly and others clinging to unfounded beliefs of health risks. The reality is that 5G uses the same part of the radiowave spectrum that was previously occupied by terrestrial TV and is
known to be safe.
Contribution to e-waste
Mobile technologies contribute to the ongoing problems of e-waste with an estimated 5.3 billion phones thrown away in 2022. Increasingly makers of electronic devices are being asked to be responsible for their safe recycling
after they are no longer in use. There are already laws about how you have to dispose of e-waste but despite this much of the e-waste from the western world ends up in less developed countries where it is handled in unsafe and
unsanitary conditions, often by children.