Who do you really know?
This illustration depicts the interconnectedness of mobile users across a cell phone network. Lines along the outer perimeter depict individual users sending text messages and other forms of communication to other users, who in turn send messages to their own separate groups. The center represents how the convergence of today’s mobile communications ties together users in ways never imagined. With each text and email we send through mobile technology, we become linked to others across a global network. The rewards of such interconnectedness are great ... as are the hazards, many security experts say.

By Michael Schiavetta (M.A. '07)

Sitting in his engineering lab at NYIT-Old Westbury, Assistant Professor Farshid Delgosha describes just how simple it is to hack into a smartphone using a method known as the “side channel attack.”

With just an antenna linked to his or her own smartphone, the intruder monitors encrypted signals from a target device. “A side channel attack allows a hacker to understand and analyze the power output and radiation coming from a smartphone,” says Delgosha. This data provides clues that help criminals break into a secured network. “And there’s no way to stop it unless the target is carrying the proper hardware.”

This type of digital ambush is just another tool in the 21st-century hacker’s arsenal. In years past, the big targets for cyber intruders were government mainframes and corporate networks. Today, their prey is much more accessible, thanks to the explosion in popularity of mobile devices—from iPhones to iPads to compact laptops, all of which dwarf the power of advanced computers from just a decade ago.

“At first, there was not much interest in hacking cell phones,” says Ziqian Dong, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYIT-Manhattan. “But as more people began to use them for online banking, the crooks took note.” 

Another reason she cites for the increase in smartphone hacking is the trend of companies to become mobile as they compete in a global economy. “When you shift to a more mobile business,” says Dong, “lots of critical information will be transmitted through wireless networks.”

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Winter 2012 Table of Contents