Smartphone security : A study about students' usage of built-in security features in smartphones

Smartphones combine telephony services with data services in a single device. In 2007, Apple released a new generation of phones run by iOS operating system, called iPhones. Android phones were developed by Google and were released the following year. Smartphones use has increased a lot and they have become one of the most common devices that are being used in most of companies nowadays. The concept BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, means that employees may use their own smartphones at work. This makes using the built-in security features in smartphones particularly important, not only to protect employees’ private information but also to protect their corporate information. Early research has shown that threats and attacks have also increased on smartphones. Hackers have focused their attacks on smartphones more than before. And have created mobile-based viruses, malware and spyware that target vulnerable smartphones. Smartphone users nowadays do not have much control of their smartphones security according to previous researches. However, smartphones manufacturers constantly add new built-in security features with each new version of operating system to protect them from various threats. Smartphone manufacturers may use the acquired final data to improve their products’ security and increase the use of mobile built-in security features. The current study researches students’ interaction and use of the built-in security features available in smartphones run by both Android and iOS operating systems. The study does not divide students into smaller groups; it rather focuses on all students as one group. Although this study was conducted in the University of Skovde in Sweden, its conclusion can be applied to a bigger population regardless of location. Today's students are tomorrow’s employees and managers who will have the responsibility to protect their companies’ proprietary and sensitive information. Therefore, it is critical that they understand and implement all up-to-date procedures to protect their smartphones and their companies. A quantitative study is conducted through a survey in order to reach as many participants as possible. Lime Survey tool is utilized to create surveys and to gather data. Statistics and diagrams are also used to demonstrate results to readers. A total of 201 participants completed the entire study, 134 participants answered the Android survey and 67 answered the iOS survey. The current survey results have shown, through a model that converts participants’ answers into a flow chart, that the use of the built-in security features varies among participating students. The use of these built-in security features was low in general. More than half of all participants do not use certain functions at all. The general low use of the built-in security features can be attributed to many reasons. This survey showed that the main reason of that was the lack of participants’ knowledge of these built-in security features. Several solutions exist for this lack of knowledge of participants, but they do not fall within the scope of this study therefore not discussed herein