How smart is the NSA zero-click threat advisory in 2024?
Comedy fans may recognize “you’ve tried to stop it over and over again” from the British sitcom The IT team. But what if the National Security Agency told all cell phone users to do it? And, more importantly, if you follow these guidelines, will you be safe from malware and spyware in 2024 and beyond?
NSA Turn Off And On Again Tips
The NSA’s original warning was published in a guide to what you can use mobile devices in 2020. With mobile phones running on all operating platforms becoming a popular target for all kinds of threats, the NSA said “many devices offer access and capabilities but provide security” and tried to follow simple steps that even non-technical users can take to better protect their devices and the content stored inside phone users thank me for warning them and criticize me for not going into detail about what rebooting will do to protect people. All these opinions are valid, of course, and this article is written in the hope of providing details.
Let’s start by saying that I have nothing but praise for the document that the NSA has released; not only is the advice loaded with wisdom, but it is delivered in a way that is understandable to all listeners. Taking a visual approach, the NSA used image-based warnings that informed readers of what to avoid, avoid, do and don’t do. This list includes the use of strong PINs and passwords, biometric locks and regular software updates, for example. The advice to take no action involves rooting or damaging your phone, clicking on unknown links or opening unknown attachments. But it’s the heavy duty image that really got my attention, especially when it comes to powering down the device by turning it off and on again every week.
The second page of the infographic-heavy advisory document took the form of warning smartphone users of the things they should do to reduce threats. At this time, the image was divided between sometimes blocking and almost always blocking. If you restart your mobile every time, the suggestion was to use it because sometimes it prevents fraud (installing malware) and clicks zero. Therefore, it was not a silver bullet solution or a one-size-fits-all security solution.
Should You Always Restart Your Smartphone in 2024?
The short answer if you want to restart your cell phone every week in 2024 is no. But the need is to do a lot of lifting on this question. From a security perspective, rebooting will still remove the threat from persistent malware – it’s a threat that won’t survive rebooting. I know it’s pretty obvious, but it has to be said. There is a lot of malware that falls into this category, not all of it from the most sophisticated or dangerous.
While spyware was making headlines for all the right reasons, with countries using advanced software such as Pegasus to hack both Android and iPhone devices, reports said that it has changed from persistence to relying on binary payments that are being used again after the reboot. Relying on the malware’s memory, rather than writing it down for permanent storage, is another way to avoid leaving behind forensic evidence at this critical time.
“As long as people update their devices every time they are released,” said Jake Moore, global cybersecurity evangelist with ESET, “devices will remain healthy and secure. However, it’s a good idea to restart your phone frequently but more for battery reasons than security.”
Moore is right to say that a quick restart can solve operational problems and communication problems. However, this does not mean that security reasons for rebooting are off the table. “Zero-click malware is a recurring problem on both Apple and Android devices,” Moore said, “but it’s usually detected and responded to quickly. When it’s detected, a patch is created, and a new update is released to mitigate the threat.”
There is no definitive answer when it comes to the soundness of the NSA’s warning and relaunch recommendations, however, erring on the side of caution should not be ignored in my humble opinion. There’s an interesting discussion on Stack Exchange that sums things up nicely: the long answer is that it depends on what your wrist has done since it rebooted, the short answer is, rebooting reduces risk. Rebooting has little, if any, value, so why not reboot more often? I side with the NSA on this one.
#NSA #Tells #iPhone #Android #Users #Restart #Device