Smartwatches to be the next security scene, says Bitdefender

In the digital world, it’s important to stay secure, and while you’ve been told to keep your computer secure with internet security for some time, and we’re only now getting the hang of mobile phone security, it’s our wrists that could be targeted next.

It’s not the wrists themselves, mind you, and not the bone and flesh — we don’t have digital body parts yet — but rather what is on the wrists, with smartwatches a possible — and likely — target for hackers in the future.

According to Bitdefender, this could be a serious area, with Android Wear one of the platforms that could allow easy access to your phone and online identity.

“Android Wear is probably the next big thing in the mobile space since the introduction of smartphones,” said Bitdefender’s Bogdan Botezatu, adding that “we expect it to be as successful as Android, which would make it a target as appealing to cyber-criminals.”

To help deal with any potential problems, the company is updating its mobile security and antivirus product, aptly named “Bitdefender Mobile Security & Antivirus,” with the ability to pick up on when you have an Android Wear product connected to your phone and lock it down if necessary.

We tested the current version of Bitdefender’s Mobile Security app to find it would tell an Android Wear product when the phone has been left out of reach from the watch, buzzing you and providing a message to warn you of that fact.

From there, the phone can be wiped remotely, either online or by an SMS code setup ahead of time from another phone, presumably one that you trust (like a friend or family member).

At the moment, the product doesn’t do much because, well, there hasn’t been an attack to the Android Wear platform yet, but when it does, Bitdefender hopes to be right on top of it.

“Our current release for Wear mitigates the most obvious issues such as theft or loss but we will continue to keep an eye on the developments in the space to include solutions for subsequent issues identified with Wear,” said Botezatu.

Presently, there is only one Android Wear watch available in Australia, with the LG G Watch found in stores, while Samsung’s Gear Live and Motorola’s 360 should both be coming later this year.

Right now, though, that limited availability of Android watches makes it unlikely to be targeted by criminals and scammers, but give it time and more market penetration, and this area could boom, and it’s always better to be ready for something than not.