The Best Mobile Security Apps | PCMag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402099,00.asp)
Addicted to your mobile device? Be safer rather than sorry by downloading any one of the following mobile security apps.
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- March 27, 2012
- 2 Comments (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402099,00.asp#disqus_thread)
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Do you
really need mobile security? That depends who you ask. Team FUD will roll its eyes and tell you that mobile malware is pure F.U.D. (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), a creation of security vendors trying to sell you their solutions. Team Sec will tell you that it's only a matter of time before mobile infection rates—currently less than 5 five percent for Android users—explode to Windows-like proportions.
We're in Team Better Safe Than Sorry. If you rely on your mobile devices as much as we do, and at this point store more sensitive information on your smartphones and tablets than in your wallets, mobile security software will help you sleep easy at night.
After all, antivirus is only one component of mobile security software. More so than on desktops, there's an increasing concern over mobile privacy. Because mobile technology is relatively new, and consumer protection policies have yet to be written, we're still relatively helpless to companies aggressively mining, tracking, and storing sensitive mobile data. Last fall, many Android owners felt blindsided learning of a piece of bloatware that had long existed in their devices, Carrier IQ, which tracked every all their actions. In January, we saw another particularly aggressive ad network called "Apperhand" dropped in free Android apps. The API would place a search icon on your mobile desktop without your permission, push ads through your notice bar, and redirect search queries to a pay-per-click search engine. In February, Path, a popular photo app on iOS, infuriated users when who belatedly discovered that the app stored all their contact information without explicitly asking permission. None of these things are malicious in the traditional security sense, but I'm willing to bet if you had a choice, you'd rather not have these features on your devices at all.
As such, mobile security suites like the ones listed below cover the whole gamut of mobile threats: antimalware, mobile firewall, call/voice/text blocking, warnings for privacy-invading apps, and protection of your data in the event the phone is lost or stolen. Android is the fastest-growing operating system in the world, as well as the fastest-growing mobile target, which is why this list is Android-dominated.
Apple iOS threats are largely satisfied by tweaking native security settings, but downloading one app—Lookout for iPhone (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398501,00.asp)—will placate any paranoia.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:
(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.pcmag.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F339540-bitdefender.jpg%3Fthumb%3Dy&hash=7ecf081e515701f062e760bf207d6c02b6280d19) (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401811,00.asp)
Bitdefender Mobile Security (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401811,00.asp)
(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcmag.com%2Fimages%2Fpcm_3_5_dot.gif&hash=d30999bd69576599c5308c6b1defd8849fc32477)
Free, $9.99/year for Premium
A lot of traditional security vendors simply port desktop security to the phone. Not Bitdefender. This app runs quietly in the background of your Android device, but offers only average virus protection according to independent labs AV-test.org. You get what you pay for, I guess. Read the full review ›› (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401811,00.asp)
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F-Secure Mobile Security 7.6 (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387180,00.asp)
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Free, $39.99/year for Premium
F-Secure offers top-notch mobile antivirus protection thanks to the brainiacs plugged in at the world renowned F-Secure Labs. It bundles parental controls and will appeal to parents of Android-wielding children. But there are slicker mobile security apps for adult consumers. Read the full review ››
(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2387180,00.asp)
(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww8.pcmag.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F339538-lookout.jpg%3Fthumb%3Dy&hash=287d0ae8e02074a68c16fc730de3c4ba137ff049) (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400996,00.asp)
Lookout for Android (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400996,00.asp)
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Free, $29.99/year for Premium
You can tell Lookout is the only mobile-only security company in this group. This well-designed app combines an appealing, made-for-mobile UI with powerful antivirus, remote controls, data backup, firewall, and app auditor. Read the full review ››
(http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2400996,00.asp)
(https://www.abibitumikasa.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww7.pcmag.com%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F334587-mcafee-logo.jpg%3Fthumb%3Dy&hash=6151f02f1de2a10742d8a2061f2bca27fdbb9dfb) (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401007,00.asp)
McAfee Mobile Security 2.0 (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401007,00.asp)
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Free, $29.99/year for Premium
It's an aggressive little app that alerts as frequently as a desktop antivirus, but McAfee Mobile offers powerful end-to-end protection. Bonus: unlimited cloud backup. Read the full review ›› (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2401007,00.asp)