Cell Phone Security

Best Practices

People fret endlessly about their security online. They worry about their credit card numbers being stolen, their bank accounts being compromised and their personal security. At the same time that they’re worrying about all of this, they’re carrying a wealth of personal information around in their pocket, everywhere they go: their cellular phone. People’s cell phones are far more than devices for making calls these days. They’re personal organizers, web-enabled devices, are able to store detailed information about friends and family and much more. Keeping them safe is one of the most important things you can do.

An article on the Better Business Bureau’s site is telling in that theft is the first thing that’s mentioned. Before you worry about a technologically-gifted and bored teenager hacking their way into your signal, make sure you protect against the lowest-tech type of attack possible: common theft. Cell phones are easy to steal. They’re small, they’re oftentimes forgotten by their owners in various places and, because many of them look exactly alike, they’re easily sold or wiped clean and taken over by a new owner. This makes them major targets.

To protect against theft, make a habit of always putting your cellular phone in your pocket when you’re done talking. Don’t put it on the table. Don’t put it in your purse across the table from you. Putting it in your front pocket is best. It’s easy to tell if something falls out of your front pocket and, obviously, your cell phone is less likely to be crushed. If your phone is stolen, you have to call your provider and have it shut off immediately. The thieves already have your information, but you can still stop them from running up your bill. That information, however, should not be easy for them to get at, provided you thought ahead.

Cellular phone security has some aspects to it that are unique to the technology. One of the most common types of attack used by hackers has nothing to do with digital security. It’s called social engineering and it relies on tricking you into doing something stupid, or simply catching you in the act without your knowing it. An article on Inc. offers a good example of this that anyone can relate to: reciting your credit card number or other personal information in front of others who can clearly hear it. Any self-respecting social engineer would be all over you if they heard you doing this, and you wouldn’t even know it.

You’ll also find that, with all the new features on cell phones, you’ll start using them for purposes to which you used to put your computer. Checking email and accounts is a good example of this. While someone getting into your email has obvious hazards, most people are smart enough not to email their credit card numbers. Most people, however, have a log in to the sites where they like to go shopping and, if they’re lazy about it, they have all of these passwords saved to their browser. Of course, all of these sites let you save your credit card number to their servers for convenience. This has serious security implications.

If you use shopping sites and you have a saved profile that lets you log in and order without reentering your credit card number, don’t visit it on your cell phone. The better part of cellular phone security is keeping in mind that it’s not like your computer, despite its many functions. It’s taken out in public and that means all the difference where security is concerned.

http://technology.inc.com/security/articles/200702/cellphone.html

http://www.bbb.org/us/article/tips-for-keeping-your-cell-phone-safe-from-hackers-and-thieves-711