As organizations continue to adapt to life in the age of COVID-19, smartphones are set to take on additional responsibilities – even as the security limitations of these devices become ever more evident. Below, I’ve highlighted five key trends that are set to shape mobile security in 2021.

To close out the year, U.S. telecommunications giant T-Mobile announced it had been hacked. In a notice, the company said its cybersecurity team had discovered and shut down malicious, unauthorized access to some information related to T-Mobile accounts.

Relying on outdated fraud prevention and identification measures will no longer cut it, and businesses that don’t adapt will lag. As people continue to work, collaborate and socialize via their mobile devices, businesses must equip themselves with technology and tools that will prioritize fraud prevention. If not, companies risk losing their customers to those who have invested in more robust solutions.    

Lookout, Inc. announced the discovery of Goontact, a new spyware targeting iOS and Android users in multiple Asian countries. Uncovered by the Lookout Threat Intelligence team, Goontact targets users of illicit sites and steals personal information stored on their mobile devices. Evidence shows these sextortion scams are affecting Chinese-, Japanese- and Korean-speaking people. Goontact may also be operating in Thailand and Vietnam. Lookout discovered evidence the campaign may have been active since 2018 and is still active today. 

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre has issued an alert on the MobileIron remote code execution vulnerability. According to the alert, APT nation state groups and cybercriminals are exploiting this vulnerability to compromise the networks of UK organizations.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are now responsible for 32.72% of all infections observed in mobile networks, up from 16.17% in 2019, according to a new Nokia Threat Intelligence Report 2020. This trend lines up with the growing number of IoT devices that are now connected to mobile networks, says Nokia's Threat Intelligence Lab. 

The National Security Agency released a Limiting Location Data Exposure Cybersecurity Information Sheet (CSI) to guide National Security System (NSS) and Department of Defense (DoD) mobile device users on how they might reduce risk associated with sharing sensitive location data.

There was a 7.3 percent increase in the cost of fraud year-over-year for U.S. e-commerce and retail merchants, according to a new LexisNexis Risk Solutions report.

The UK has banned Huawei from its 5G telecom network, reversing a January decision to allow the embattled Chinese tech company a limited role in building the country's super-fast wireless infrastructure.

Lookout, Inc. released its 2020 Mobile Phishing Spotlight Report that reveals there was a 37 percent increase worldwide in enterprise mobile phishing encounter rate between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.