Best Vaccine for Mobile Device Viruses

A security research team at Bluebox have unveiled a vulnerability in Android, claiming that malware can get full access to the mobile operating system and applications. The complete details are not yet public, so the Yubico security team does not know how such an attack would work. But we know for sure that we will see more sophisticated mobile malware attacks in the near future.

For many years Apple claimed that their computers were more secure than PCs, being immune to PC viruses. This was a correct statement until Max OS X and IOS won enough market share to become increasingly popular for malware creators.

As the security of static passwords and software authentication installed on computers was exposed, and more and more users adopted smart phones and tablets, SMS and authentication apps were presented as the more secure way to login.  But malware creators always follow the crowd. Long before the Bluebox vulnerability discovery, software authentication applications, running on mobile devices, have been copied and misused.

At Yubico we had these threats in mind when we developed the YubiKey NEO, enabling true second factor authentication across computers and NFC mobile devices. For users and devices that do not have NFC, the Yubikey NEO can also hold an authentication app on the YubiKey itself, offering higher security than loaded on a device exposed to the Internet.

Just as biological viruses have spread, infected and killed humans in the physical world, another type of virus is infiltrating the veins of the Internet. Cloud companies, that have been part of the YubiKey NEO development and success, have seen these viruses attacking their systems. And we know that authentication hardware is the most powerful vaccine.

Talk to our teamTalk to our team

Share this article:


  • Future-proofing authentication: A look at the future of post-quantum cryptographyThe path from passwords to passkeys and beyond In a previous blog I talked about the end of passwords and the rise of passkeys, which promise stronger security and less frustration for both individuals and businesses. The global momentum behind passkeys represents one of the most exciting shifts in authentication history, but realizing their full […]Read more
  • Goodbye master passwords: Dashlane and Yubico enhance credential vault encryption and login with YubiKeysAt Authenticate 2025 this week, the world’s leading experts on modern authentication and securing digital identities gathered, to discuss the future of secure authentication and achieving usable security across the account lifecycle. The message was clear: the future of phishing-resistant authentication is using passkeys for encryption, and the gold standard is device-bound passkeys – YubiKeys. […]Read morecredential vault encryptioncredential vault loginDashlanepartnerpasskey encryptionPRF
  • Piloting Europe’s future ID: Passkeys securing digital walletsOver the last several years, passkeys have become ubiquitous. They are available on every mobile platform, in every leading browser, as part of all major enterprise IAM solutions, and in most major cloud services. Until wwWallet came along, the only place where passkeys hadn’t yet made an impact is in the rapidly developing world of […]Read moredigital identity walletspasskeysSIROSwwWallet
  • We’re excited for what’s to come – meet us in-person to find out whyIt’s been a busy year for our team, filled with exciting company and product updates aimed at better serving our customers and helping them achieve cyber resilience as AI-driven phishing threats continue evolving globally. Between industry award recognitions and key new executive leadership hires to lead Yubico to its next stage of growth and a […]Read more