Cell Phone Security Tips For Smartphones | The Communication Blog

Friday, October 5, 2012

Cell Phone Security Tips For Smartphones

By Clare Schluter


In a little over 2 decades both the technology and features available in mobile phones has come a long, long way from the earliest models. It was only a few short years ago that your average mobile phone weighed as much as a brick and if you were lucky you'd be able to send text messages or make calls with it whereas modern smartphones are as powerful as some laptop or desktop computers.

This progress has meant that smartphones have become progressively more expensive which means they're now becoming a target of choice for many thieves. When it comes to what thieves are choosing to steal from gym lockers now, smartphones are being stolen more often than people's wallets and this is just because they're very easy to sell both online and offline and most people will never question where their cheap cell phone actually came from.

The reality of owning a smartphone is that you will have to take precautions to ensure that it's safeguarded against thieves of all kinds. The more difficult you make it to actually steal your cell phone the more any potential thief is going to avoid it and look elsewhere. Taking out an insurance policy on your smartphone is no excuse for avoiding putting some simple security measures in place too.

Your smartphone probably has a GPS feature built into it and if so then it's a good idea to enable it because it can help you quickly find your phone if and when it gets stolen. Most cell phone providers also have the ability to actually track down your mobile phone using the same triangulation techniques (using masts and cell towers) you see in the movies but they won't do this unless you get the police involved.

The vast majority of smartphones will have Bluetooth built-in and this is a feature you should disable unless you're using it on a regular basis - thieves can use your Bluetooth signal to both hack into and track down the location of your cell phone.

We'd also suggest adding some encryption software to your cell phone because it means your most sensitive information is protected before your phone is stolen. We use and recommend an app called "Vault" because it's very good at hiding data and unless your thief is a technical wizard the encrypted data on your phone will never be accessible to them.

If you truly value your mobile phone then you should consider adding a remote tracking and monitoring application to it because these allow you to check all text messages on the phone, the call history including all numbers and even any images sent to or received by your stolen cell phone and the thief will never know what you're doing. The most advanced types of remote monitoring software can even use the phone's GPS signal and Google maps to give you a precise location to send the cops to collect your stolen property.

Cell phone theft is exploding right now so it's important that you take steps to protect your phone. After all there's no point in waiting until your phone is stolen to try protecting it right?




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