Security firm Symantec has some intriguing research up its sleeve so it can stay one step ahead of the latest hacking trends in social media and mobile apps.
According to our source story from Network World, Symantec is giving a sneak peek at what its researchers are cooking up at its cybersecurity labs in those two sectors. For example, Symantec teams are working on adding social networking into role-based access control (RBAC) systems. Such systems already control access to sensitive data by assigning permission to certain people within a company or organization. But Symantec is looking at how to create a “social network graphic” to alert IT managers to user patterns within social networks, including internal ones created and maintained by companies themselves.
On the mobile app front, Symantec is taking a stab at better tools to spot malicious apps based on what they’re actually designed to do – not just what they declare they do.
IT users are flocking to mobile apps and social networks – and so are cybercriminals. (Photo: Shutterstock)
“The project seeks to do a run-time analysis of apps in an emulator to check not only for vulnerabilities or malware but also the ‘gray area’ where apps behave in what might be an undesirable way, such as tracking the user or other insidious behaviors,” the story notes.