As much as smartphones and applications have evolved over the years, so has mobile malware. We’re seeing an increasing number of threats—from mobile ransomware and auto-clicking adware to dangerous backdoors that can compromise your privacy. And there are also legitimate personal applications that can be taken advantage of and used to target your enterprise. With the amount of invaluable information stored in these phones—from banking details to account credentials and access to contacts—it becomes increasingly important to protect them.

Finding the right kind of security

There are already a number of mobile security solutions available for consumers. To make choosing the right one easier, there are independent organizations that systemically check if the various software are as effective as they claim to be. AV-Comparatives (AVC) is one of these organizations, and “using one of the largest sample collections worldwide, it creates a real-world environment for truly accurate testing.” The AVC studies are done yearly, and for the past three years (2015, 2016 and 2017) Trend Micro™ Mobile Security (TMMS) for Android consumers has consistently been scoring top results for protection—100% malware detection rate and 0 false positives.

TMMS for Android consumers is a solution that uses our cloud-based Smart Protection Network™ (SPN) and Mobile App Reputation technology to stop threats before they can reach users. TMMS scans files and uses the Predictive Machine Learning engine, a feature hosted on the SPN. It compares the sample to the malware model, assigns a probability score, and then determines whether the file is malicious or not. This way, the product can prevent the malicious file from installation and warn users to uninstall or remove it.

AV-TEST is another independent IT-security institute that also evaluates a whole range of security products. In a recent study, the organization tested 19 different mobile security solutions. They used the most current versions of the products on their defaults settings and evaluated them on malware detection and usability.

TMMS earned the highest possible marks in AV-Tests’ protection and usability categories, with a 100% detection rate and 0 false positives. In particular, the solution was noted for its performance features, which any smartphone user would appreciate:

does not impact the battery life

does not slow down the device during normal usage

does not generate too much traffic

TMMS aims to protect all mobile users against identity theft, phishing scams and fraudulent websites. And since privacy is becoming an increasingly important concern, it also enables browsing without being tracked and safeguards confidentiality on social media.

In this age the smartphone is already an indispensable part of daily life. And with the mounting threats facing mobile users, comprehensive security is essential. The content in your smartphone is too valuable to leave unprotected and most of these threats are actually preventable with the right kind of layered security.