Hampshire cyber expert says "trust nothing" and check everything as malware risk rises
Organisations are warning people to 'stop before you tap'
A Hampshire cybersecurity expert has urged people to "trust nothing" and to check twice before tapping as organisations warn malicious malware is on the rise.
Anti-fraud, cybersecurity and finance organisations are highlighting a "surge" in Android malware.
They want people to be on the look out for unexpected updates or "strange" app requests.
Tim Walker, Managing Director of Aura Technology, said: "It is incredibly important that people, whether in a business or personal context, are thinking about and checking these things twice before you go and easily click on what you may perceive as a simple request from a secure organisation.
"Trust nothing and check everything."
In some cases, malicious apps may look like file managers, PDF readers, phone cleaners, or even browsers like Google Chrome, the organisations said.
Once installed, they can appear harmless but later activate harmful features through hidden updates.
Mr Walker further shared his tips for how to keep safe online.
He added: "Users have to be incredibly cautious about what they click on and anything that comes from a mobile number that doesn't actually tag the name of the supplier in the message is one clue that it's not genuine.
"It's really easy for people who are not necessarily looking for something or suspecting that they would get a message like this.
"The main thing to do is to look twice at least at everything you get that is asking you something that you do not normally expect to get.
"For example, if you normally get something from your bank through the banking application itself, that may be a push notification for you to do something, then that's probably genuine.
"Randomly getting a message that you're not expecting and it doesn't quite look right, it's worth listening to that intuition and then phoning that company directly using the details you would normally use.
"That could be from a statement or from the back of a bank card for example, for you to contact them and to verify that what you've received is actually from them."
People are being urged by the organisations to be vigilant particularly when being prompted to re-authenticate during a banking session; encountering unresponsive banking apps showing "busy" messages, installing generic-looking apps such as file managers or phone cleaners; receiving unexpected prompts to install or update Chrome; and being asked to grant unusual permissions, particularly accessibility access.