Smartphones have become a household commodity. If you think everyone has traded in their simple phone call-only devices for these pocket-sized computers, you`re not imagining things. A recent survey by the Pew Internet Project shows that 35% of American adults own one. And many people are now using them more frequently than their PCs:
Some 87% of smartphone owners access the internet or email on their handheld, including two-thirds (68%) who do so on a typical day.
But many of these users don`t realize that this email and Internet access exposes all their stored personal info to viruses and other security issues.
Did you know that when you take pictures with your phone and post them on social media sites, friends and strangers can see where these pictures were taken? When checking the picture properties, it gives the exact GPS location of the picture site. People will know where you live, which park you and your kids play at, and they can even figure out which school your kids go to …scary. It`s very important to turn off this option on your smartphone: you may want to check the phones manual about how to do this.
Also, security holes were recently identified in iPhones and iPads that can jeopardize your personal data. A hacker can send you a PDF attachment and trick you into opening the file and installing malicious software. Yes, someone is now attacking Apple! I guess that happens when you are the leader in the industry. Apple will be targeted more in the future since they will most probably be the leader for a while yet.
So what can we do to protect against these things? Well, mobile-based antivirus software is available and I`m sure many people haven`t even given this a thought yet. It`s only a phone, right? Even though attacks might seem rare for now – users should still protect their phones like they do their home computers. The attacks will increase, especially since more people are using their phones to pay bills and do other online banking, and basically using them in place of a PC.
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