Accessing pornography on one’s smartphone is very popular with many people and anything popular with many people is also popular with scammers and cybercriminals which is why, according to a recent report written by security company Kaspersky Lab, more than 25% of smartphone users accessing pornography on their smartphones were attacked with a variety of malware programs including ransomware, which often comes with what appears to be an official appearing FBI notice that threatens criminal charges related to child pornography unless a penalty (actually a ransom) is paid. These phony, but official appearing notices frequently come with child pornography photographs. As with all ransomware, the victim of the attack’s computer is locked and all of the victim’s data is encrypted and is threatened to be destroyed unless a ransom is paid. In this particular porn-based scam, the threat of criminal prosecution is also used.
TIPS
There are many legitimate pornography websites, however, scammers will often construct pornography websites for the sole purpose of luring victims into the website to infect them with various forms of malware including ransomware and keystroke logging malware that will steal the victim’s personal information and use it for purposes of identity theft.
Only download apps for any purpose from legitimate sources, such as Google Play or the Apple App store.
Finally, make sure that you have security software installed on all of your electronic devices including your computer, laptop and smartphone. Also, make sure that you update your security software with the latest patches as soon as they are available.
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