Android crashing?

Does your Android device crash frequently or has it taken a performance hit? Or do you always exceed your data cap or run out of battery even though you don’t use it much? Or do you see obtrusive advertisements popping up often on your mobile device?

These are some of the commons signs of malware infection, according to security experts.
As most modern malware are capable of working silently in the background, they can not only affect your device adversely but also send out your personal information to a third-party which could result in financial loss.

It doesn’t take much to contract malware — they could be hidden in apps, especially games, or infect your device via a compromised website.

Major security vendors, including Sophos, Kaspersky Lab, Trend Micro, Fortinet and F-Secure, have all reported a rise in mobile malware.

This is in part due to the explosion in the uptake of Android devices, be it smartphones or tablets, and the largely unregulated Android app market.

In the past 12 months mobile malware has increased sixfold to well over 650,000 individual pieces of malware for Android — a tiny fraction if compared to the malware on PCs — but it’s the fastest growing threat, reported Sophos.

While Kaspersky Labs said about 145,000 new malicious programs for mobile devices was detected last year which is more than double the figure in 2012.

Apart from high-risk apps, web threats like phishing continues to be the biggest concern for mobile devices, according to Trend Micro. In a phishing attack the perpetrator usually mimics a legitimate site to steal personal information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details.

Financial sites remain the most favoured phishing target particularly in the second quarter of 2013 with PayPal being the most “abused” company when it comes to such scams.

World Mobile Congress in Barcelona

Here are five major trends to emerge at the four-day World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, the industry's biggest annual gathering, which wrapped up Thursday:

Connected watches, bracelets, and a toothbrush
The new star accessories of manufacturers such as mobile titan Samsung, Sony or China's Huawei are smartphone-connected bracelets and watches. You can take a call and read messages on them. But now they offer to count your steps, check your pulse, even monitor your sleep cycle and decide the best moment to wake you. They are part of a "quantified self" trend, in which smartphone owners can measure the minutiae of their own lives, right down to cleaning their teeth. Procter & Gamble's Oral-B smart toothbrush will check your technique, and you can share the results on social networks.

Cheap smartphones
From a US$25 (RM82) smartphone, which Mozilla Foundation says it is developing for this year for developing markets, to Nokia X models for less than 150 euros (RM674.13), manufacturers are trying to tap into the fastest-growing markets such as Latin America, China, South Asia and Africa.

Smartphone for better "selfie"
Often neglected, the camera on the front of your smartphone for taking a photo of yourself is becoming more powerful to satisfy the growth of the "selfie". Huawei's Ascend G6 boosts the front camera to five megapixels. More broadly, photo and video quality is improving rapidly. Sony's new Xperia Z2 allows users to film in 4K resolution, the most advanced available on the market.

Spam and other threats
As people pour sensitive personal data into their smartphones and tablets, and as more objects are hooked up to the network, security threats can take on a new dimension. Some hackers manage to get into target devices to take photos or record conversations. One compromised refrigerator has been caught sending spam. Security specialists say even your connected car's brakes could be at risk.

A movie downloaded in one second
The next, fifth-generation mobile networks to begin rolling out in 2020 promise to let users download an entire high-definition movie in one second flat. The network will have to cope, also, with billions of connected objects communicating with each other, from kitchen appliances to cars and traffic signals, industry players say.