Android Awareness Persuasive Essay

Good news? It’s fairly easy to avoid. The bad news? Once your smartphone gets infected, it’s as good as bricked.

Anyone who’s been surfing the Web a long time probably knows it’s terribly unwise clicking just about any link on the Internet. Following this simple rule should keep most of us relatively safe. What if we tell that a virus targeting Android phones is shrewdly hiding itself in safe, innocuous ads?

Malvertising Threat on the Loose
While most malware are content with redirecting unsuspecting users to virus-laden portals, this latest malvertising strain isn’t. And if you’re browsing using your Android device when the virus strikes, it downloads and installs an Android app that compromises your entire phone. The scary part? There’s

Zscaler looked around Godlike Productions forums, a popular source of UFO stories and conspiracies, and found the malvertising lurking around.

Just as the conspiracy theorists on the forum speculated, legit ads on the site have become unwary hosts of malware infection. And this time, their hypothesis may unfortunately be accurate. And if this trend continues, it could be replicated and spread on even more websites.

So, what do we all do now?

Keeping the Latest Malvertising at Bay
As mentioned earlier, it’s easy to protect your Android phone from such harmful, malicious advertisements. If you haven’t tinkered with your smartphone’s settings at all, you need not worry about this threat at all. If you have for one reason or another, now’s your chance to avert a possible disaster.

Simply go to your phone’s Settings > Security > Device Administration. In there, untick the box beside Unknown Sources so your device won’t allow the installation of apps not listed on Google Play by default. While this option keeps you from downloading anything from third-party app stores (e.g. Amazon Appstore), it’s actually more of a security risk on the whole.

For now, you’d be wise to keep it disabled.

What Happens During