Norton House of Digital Horrors

Security firm Norton recently held its House of Digital Horrors in New York City, which showcased a bevy of mobile security threats and other digital dangers. 

As if today's mobile threats weren't frightening enough; the display was held in a surprisingly spine-tingling haunted house attraction. The eerie exhibit, perfect for Halloween, was complete with vampires, mummies, zombies, and other ghouls. Guests were guided though an exhibit of the most pernicious threats and dangers living in the darkest recesses of the mobile space, including data and identity theft, browser hijacking on a smartphone, and alteration of QR codes for malicious intent.

The crawl through the haunted house of mobile danger was conducted by the requisite creepy tour hosts: a one-eyed caretaker of the "Norton estate" and a dead-pan butler type, who urged tour guests to proceed through the exhibit "with caution."

Highlights included a fortune-teller who was able to gather all of your personal information not through her crystal ball but from all the personal data we put on the Internet. A black-lit room filled with macabre optical illusions clearly demonstrated that things aren’t always what they appear, and drove home the importance of having a good security solution to protect against spyware and phishing attacks. Another display featured a questionably secure jail cell containing a ravenous mobile-device thieving zombie. The lesson? You need a solution with capabilities such as remote wipe.

So without further ado, take a look inside Norton's Digital House of Horror, if you dare. For every threat and mobile monster out there, Norton proposes one of its solutions.

Good Evening!

Upon entering the Norton House of Digital Horrors, guests were greeted by some legendary figures of horror, including this guy.

 

 

Warewolf (photo courtesy Timothy Stanton)

 

 

 Appallingly Bad Apps (photo courtesy Timothy Stanton)

Like a vampire offering a poisonous banquet to render unsuspecting victims helpless, the Internet offers up a host of bad apps. It's often difficult to distinguish a bad app from good. Bad apps can mislead users to download all kinds of malware including ones that steal data.

Norton Mobile Security

Symantec's answer to combating bad apps and the threats they may bring is Norton Mobile Security, which includes antivirus protection, on-demand scanning, and real-time protection against installation of malware. 

Theft Tank (photo courtesy Timothy Stanton)

This member of the walking dead is being held for stealing a phone. Physical theft of smartphones and tablets is a very real threat, especially for businesses.

Norton Anti Theft

Norton's solution for physical theft of mobile devices is Norton Anti Theft, which tracks lost or stolen laptops, PCs, Android phones and tablets. It pinpoints location through the most accurate available technology, viewable in an online console. It can snap photos of a device thief using a laptop's integrated webcam.

Crystal Ball Not Needed (photo courtesy Timothy Stanton)

Does it take a fortune teller with a crystal ball to reveal your personal information? No—just a savvy evil-doer who can find out lots of information about you through the internet.

Norton Tablet Security and Norton Mobile Security

Both Norton Tablet Security and Norton Mobile Security can protect devices form outside malicious software. Norton Tablet Security features download threat protection, remote locate, remote lock, tablet threat protection, and more. 

Things Aren't Always What They Appear…

In the "Gallery of Misdirection" optical illusions tricked visitors into believing they were seeing things that really weren't there. Things aren't always what they seem either when connecting mobile devices to the Internet. QR codes, barcodes embedded in advertisements, can often be used to launch malware.

Norton Snap QR Code Reader

Norton Snap QR Code Reader checks with Norton's Safe Web whenever a user scans a bar code with a mobile device. It will check to ensure that the Web site associated with the bar code is secure. 

Mobile Usage Run Amok (photo courtesy Timothy Stanton)

Perhaps, scariest of all, was the display on how mobile data plan costs can spiral out of control. Norton has a solution to keep a handle on your device's plan usage.

Norton Mobile Utilities

Norton Mobile Utilities can help users keep tabs on device plan usage and battery-draining apps. It also includes some terrific real-time charts that'll help you visualize your battery and CPU usage, memory, network up and down speeds, and internal storage capacity