The smart phone seems to be everywhere these days. Gone are the days where it was purely a business tool, it seems that no matter what age or gender, there is a smart phone to suit your needs.
Unlike standard phones, smart phones hold a lot of very sensitive information. For example, your smart phone will have access to your email account, facebook account, twitter account and a host of other social networks. A lot of sensitive information can be garnered from these accounts if your phone fell in to the wrong hands.
Many people have a tendency to leave their phones unlocked and this makes it very easy for anyone to browse your phone. I would suggest using the built in passcode Lock on the iPhone and the built in Pattern Lock on Android phones. Both are simple to set up and offer basic protection from people browsing your phone. There are more advanced options, for example on the iPhone, you can set it to delete the contents of your iPhone if the wrong passcode is entered 10 times in a row. If you decide to use the wipe feature, remember to keep children away from your phone as they could accidentally enter the wrong code 10 times and wipe your phone!
The iPhone App Store is more heavily regulated than its Android Market counterpart. Whilst the chances of getting a dodgy app in either store are slim, there have been reports of such apps in the Android Market. Android users are also not limited to just using the Android Market to download apps. Unlike iPhone users, there are many other Markets out there to download applications from and there is no need to hack your phone to do this, you just enable the choice to download an app from an Unknown Source.
If you are going to enable this feature, I would suggest that you install an Anti Virus package on your Android phone. The two that I am familiar with are Eset Mobile Security by Eset and Anti-Virus Free by AVG Mobilation. These security suites should offer some peace of mind when downloading apps from non official sites and also offer protection from spam SMS messages. They both also offer security features should your phone be stolen.
For more information on Eset Mobile Security, go to http://goo.gl/Fltor and for more information on Anti-Virus Free go to http://goo.gl/vJd7N
If you have any queries about this article or would like advice on any of the points raised by it, please don’t hesitate to call out our office on 045 855761 or email us at info@itmonkey.ie
