Rubica, the First Proactive CyberSecurity Service, Releases White Paper Revealing That Kids Under Age 12 Are a Gateway for Cyber Criminals to Access Parents' Identity

SEATTLE, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- From a collective of some of the brightest minds in cybersecurity, Seattle-based Rubica is releasing a whitepaper that reveals kids as a gateway for cyber criminals. "Cyber Crime and Privacy Risks in Free Mobile Apps for Kids: A True CyberSecurity Report" explains how games engineered for children of all ages allow digital villains to infiltrate their parents' devices and digital lives. From Angry Birds to Super Mario and Hot Wheels to Fruit Ninja, Rubica's ranking of the top free mobile games explains how deceptive ads and in-app downloads open the door for the nefarious to automatically read texts, download files without notification, grab browsing histories, link to malware and more.

The report ranks the top 20 free mobile kids' games with scores that range from "safe" to "unsafe." It also explains the specific vulnerabilities that come with downloading these apps and from children unwittingly clicking the links and prompts within them. Of the 20 games played and tested in the report on both iTunes and Google Play Store, more than 61 secondary apps can end up on one's device. Download the whitepaper here.

Sonic Dash (by Sega) ranked as the most unsafe with a score of 130.

Rolling Sky (by Cheetah) ranked second most dangerous with a score of 95.

Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios) weighs in at a score of 43 and was "not recommended."

Hot Wheels: Race Off (Hutch Games) scored a 16 with an "only with parents' supervision" recommendation.

Nintendo's Super Mario Run produced a score of 0 meaning the app is "safe."

"Hackers look for the weakest or most vulnerable link, which in this case is kids," said CEO and Co- Founder, Frances Dewing. "Despite how technologically sophisticated and well-funded hackers are, they prey on simple human deception. This report illustrates how secondary apps that are part of the digital gaming environment for young children unlock gates for cyber criminals to access everything from one's banking apps to email and beyond."

"Cybercrime is a huge business and it's easy," said former Scotland Yard detective, President and Co- Founder of Rubica, Roderick Jones. "It's bigger than the GDP of certain countries. The FBI reports that in a single year, $1.6 billion dollars is stolen in America, just from targeting individual executives. Sadly, children represent the next digital weak-link attackers are only too happy to exploit."

There's a whole weird world of cybercriminals out there that parents need to be aware of. Parents can take back agency and protect their kids by being mindful about which free apps they download. As the popularity of free apps changes over time, Rubica has committed to analyzing free apps and publishing a quarterly index of "safe" and "unsafe apps" at http://www.rubica.com/cyber-safety-for-kids.

About Rubica: We believe in human-centric security – the idea that cybersecurity requires both smart tools and smart people to detect and mitigate threats – and that cybersecurity should be accessible
to all people. Rubica exists to protect individuals' "digital rights" and ultimately reduce the incidence of cybercrime. We are the only solution that is powerful enough to protect a world-class corporation but designed specifically to provide security and privacy for individuals, families and teams. Architected by top security experts from the NSA, DOD and Scotland Yard, and originally designed for heads of nation states and global billionaires, the easy-to-use consumer products are the only ones of their kind. For more information, visit Rubica.com and follow @Rubica.

SOURCE Rubica

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