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The boom in smartphones among often careless users has made happy hunting for hackers, whose virus attacks and hijacking of unprotected mobiles are multiplying, experts warn.

Security analysts and companies at this week’s Mobile World Congress, a top wireless telecom fair in Barcelona, Spain, said phone makers and users must be on guard to stop hackers getting into your pocket.

“With smartphones we are going through what we went through 15 years ago with personal computers,” said Tanguy de Coatpont, head of the French branch of international anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab.

“There are more and more security problems because with their processing power they are really like little computers, permanently connected.”

Kaspersky’s most recent study showed that 28 percent of users were ignorant of the risks of cyberattack on their smartphones.

Just over a quarter of users in that study said they knew of the risk but were not worried about it.

Analysts said that attitude had fuelled attacks on smartphones by hackers over the past two years.

“We are seeing an increase in volume (of attacks) of sometimes more than 400 percent quarter on quarter,” said David Grout, southern Europe director of Intel Security, a global software protection firm.

That is small compared to the scale of attacks on personal computer operating systems such as Windows, but “it is a bigger and bigger risk,” he said.

“Hackers have to hand lots of personal information contained in a smartphone, particularly financial details.”

– Innovation, not security –

James Lyne, global head of security research at anti-virus firm Sophos, said phone makers must do more to warn customers of the risks of attack on their unencrypted phones.

Most consumer smartphones are not designed primarily with security in mind, with the exception of certain specialised models.

Launching its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S6 smartphone in Barcelona, South Korean giant Samsung vaunted its sleek design, wide-angle camera and wireless charger, but said little about anti-virus protection.

“The mobile market is driven by innovation and focused on adding marketable features rather than security and privacy concerns,” Lyne told a gathering at the congress.

Other lower-profile products stress security, however, such as the Blackphone, whose second-generation model was unveiled in Barcelona.

Selling for more than $600 (543 euros), the Blackphone 2 by US company Silent Circle promises encrypted calls with protection against cyberattacks and spying by intelligence agencies.

It is competing with phone maker Blackberry for business clients, hoping to lure companies who fear their employees’ unsecured phones are a security risk.

Tech security experts say smartphone users should install antivirus programmes on their phones.

French company CS Communication et Systemes presented at the Barcelona congress a protection device in the form of a miniature card that is inserted into the handset.

– Ransomware attacking phones –

Most cyberattacks nowadays target Android, the widespread smartphone operating system developed by US Internet giant Google, said de Coatpont.

“It is a very open platform that has 80 percent of the market.”

Apple’s iOS system, used on iPhones, is generally considered more secure but is not immune from attack either.

Sean Sullivan, a researcher at anti-virus and online security firm F-Secure, said hackers successfully attacked a gay dating iPhone application in Britain.

The hackers hoped that users would be reluctant to report the attack since the attack obtained sensitive information about their sexuality, Sullivan said.

He added that the smartphone world may need a wake-up call to boost security — something comparable to Cryptolocker, Russian “ransomware” that struck in 2013.

Ransomware, which seizes control of computers and demands money to unblock users’ data, is now targeting smartphones too, Sullivan said.

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The Minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, said Nigeria gained N777 billion as income from various intervention programmes in the agricultural sector in 2014.

Adesina made this known on Thursday in Abuja while briefing members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture on the performance of the ministry’s budget in 2014.

He said the money went to the rural economy of the nation as many local farmers benefitted from the interventions and were currently performing well in their farms.

The minister, who also defended the ministry’s 2015 budget before the committee, announced that a crop insurance for farmers in the country.

He said that no fewer than five million farmers would benefit from the programme, explaining that it was intended to build the confidence of farmers and encourage more people to farm.

“The main economic value of all the interventions that were done on rice, maize, sorghum, wheat, soy beans, cassava and others added N777 billion worth of income back into our rural economy.

“This has helped to create significant amount of wealth for our farmers in the country.

“As you know, we added about 21 million metric tonnes of food to the domestic food supply and that goes all over from rice to maize, cassava, sorghum, and to soy beans.

“All of that has added an average of N777 billion of revenue back into the economy; that is money going back into the hands of farmers and communities,” he said.

“If you go into many parts of Nigeria today, particularly if you go into the north, and particularly for rice farmers, for example, they will tell you that those that actually pay first to buy tickets to go to Mecca are rice farmers.

“That tells you how much things have changed for them; we have been able to create significant amount of wealth across the country from agriculture,” he added.

Adesina disclosed that the agriculture sector witnessed a revolution in maize in 2014 with 14.9 million metric tonnes production from nine million metric tonnes recorded in 2009.

He said that wheat industry witnessed a revolution with new varieties that yielded an average of six tonnes per hectare of land with 240,000 metric tonnes produced in 2014 “on a 75,000-hectare”.

He said that the ministry had also liberalized the insurance market and opened it up for private sector companies to invest in insuring farmers, adding that the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) had been completely revamped.

“NAIC is now offering a new product which is called ‘Planting with Peace’ so that our farmers will have access to crop insurance.

“We are hoping to reach about five million farmers by this year and then we can scale it up; it is a very important issue for us,” he said.

Adesina said the milestone recorded in the sector was responsible for reducing the food import bill from N3.3 trillion in 2011 to N634 billion in 2014.

This, he said, was responsible for the stable prices of food in the country in spite of the devaluation of the Naira and the fall in oil prices.

He said that the ministry utilized 100 per cent of the money released to it in 2014 and planned to make judicious use of its proposed N12.82 billion allocation for 2015.

In his remark, the Chairman of the committee, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP-Taraba South), said that the committee was satisfied with the budget implementation of the ministry.

He, however, deplored the level of funding from the Ministry of Finance to the ministry and called for more funding to it.

culled from PM

Daley Blind insists Manchester United are not concerned with the form of the club's rivals for a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League.

With Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham all winning on Wednesday, following Southampton's triumph the night before, the pressure was building on the Reds as the clash at Newcastle United entered its closing stages.

Thankfully, Ashley Young pounced on an 89th-minute error by Tim Krul to snatch three crucial points and boost confidence ahead of a small break in league action due to the FA Cup quarter-finals.

“Yes, it's three points and they are important ones,” said Blind. “I think we deserved it. It was a late goal but we had a lot of chances. We could have scored earlier but didn't. We played a good game and deserved to win if you look at the chances we created. I think it [the patience] paid off, especially if you see how many chances we had in the first half.

“I heard about the wins for the others but it's important to watch out for ourselves. We must keep winning our own games. We look at ourselves and it doesn't matter what other teams think about us.”

Young took the plaudits after scoring his first goal for over a year but there was also credit for David De Gea, whose stunning stop from Papiss Cisse denied the Newcastle striker an immediate equaliser.

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans and Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse have been charged by football association for spitting at each other.

The pair appeared to spit at each other during Wednesday’s Premier League game at St James’ Park.

Referee Anthony Taylor spoke to Evans and Cisse after the first-half incident, but neither was booked.

Last season, George Boyd was given a three-match ban for spitting at Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart. But from this season, FA disciplinary guidelines dictate that the penalty for such an offence is double that.

Cisse’s punishment could be even greater, given he was sent off for violent conduct in December for elbowing Everton’s Seamus Coleman.
FA guidelines indicate Cisse could receive an additional one-match ban.

A number of ex-players believe Evans and Cisse should be punished.

Former Newcastle midfielder Dietmar Hamann described the acts as “not acceptable” and “disgusting”, while former Manchester United defender Phil Neville added: “Both those players will be embarrassed.”

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