Smartphone Security: Keeping your personal information safe
VIA:9wsyr.com.
Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - You call it a smartphone. A hacker calls it a computer, or an opportunity to steal your personal information.
For many people, a smartphone is a must-have, whether it's an iPhone, a BlackBerry, or an Android phone.
With a smartphone, you can text, play games, access the Internet, or make calls.
Rule 1: Treat your smartphone like a computer
Users need to be aware that a smartphone is more than a phone. A general rule of thumb is to treat the device like a computer – and experts say that rule should apply whether you're an iPhone user, or an Android user.
Apple users might be under the impression that they don't need to worry about security on their devices because hackers are more likely to author malware for PC-based devices. Information security engineer Griffin Reid makes his money testing environments for data security. He warns that iPhone users should exercise the same caution that Android users have become accustomed to.
"That right there is a huge misconception," said Griffin Reid, an information security engineer. "The fact that Apple users think they're not susceptible to viruses and malware, it's completely false."
Rule 2: Do not connect to open WiFi
Free WiFi is not your friend. What might appear to be secure connection, could be a front.
A WiFi hotspot can be called whatever its creator wants to call it. What appears to be Starbucks, may not be. If you are browsing on one of these connections shopping using a smartphone app can be a dangerous. Each time you enter a password or credit card number, you may be exposing it to hackers.
Rule 3: Never save passwords in a text document
You should never save sensitive data or passwords to a text document on your phone.
Reid recommends an app called 1Password, which is available for purchase on most platforms.
1Password stores your passwords and confidential information - including web accounts, credit card data, and personal data - in one secure place and protects it with one strong password -- the only one you need to remember.
Rule 4: Know your app
Before you download an app, you should know what you're getting into.
You should always download apps from trusted sources. One way to research an app is to read reviews on it before downloading.
Rule 5: Equip your smartphone with protection
Tim Kirk of the US Secret Service also suggests that smartphone users contact their provider to download free or low-cost malware and virus protection. He also says that the customer should utilize passwords to protect their networks. That said, password users should not assume a password cannot be guessed or bypassed.
Finally, you should always leave your smartphone someplace safe. The simplest form of data theft isn't done by hacking, but by simply turning on your phone.
Hackers should be warned that criminal use of smartphones can lead to Federal charges of wire fraud, computer fraud, identity theft, or other violations that can lead to fines and considerable Federal prison sentences.
Copyright 2012 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Angelic "Steve Jobs" loves Android in Taiwan TV ad
By Jonathan Standing
(Reuters) - He may have derided Android devices in real life but in the afterlife Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs is glad he can use one -- or at least that's the story a Jobs look-alike tells in a recent TV commercial for a Taiwanese electronics company's new product.
In the ad, Taiwanese comedian and impersonator Ah-Ken, dressed in Jobs' trademark black turtle neck sweater and blue jeans and sporting white angel's wings and a halo, extols the virtues of Action Electronics Co.'s combined tablet PC and multi-language dictionary, which runs on Google Inc's Android.
"Introducing the new generation of the pad," says the "Jobs" character, whipping the Action Pad out of his back jeans pocket, wings flapping as he shows off the dictionary functions on a giant screen behind a darkened stage furnished with a sofa and small table.
"Thank God I finally get to play other tablets," the character adds in the 20-second commercial's final scene, a broad grin on his face as he taps away on the device on the sofa. The ad is subtitled in English throughout, a nod to the device's dictionary function.
Jobs, who died in October 2011, famously referred to Android as "shit," according to his biography, and was quoted in the book as saying he was going to "destroy" Android and was prepared to go to "thermonuclear war" over the product.
"Steve Jobs always promoted things that were good for people, Apple products, so his image can also promote other things that are good," said Chelsea Chen, a spokeswoman for Action Electronics, a maker of electronic gadgets including portable DVD players and Internet devices.
The commercial does not use Jobs' name or refer to him or Apple in any way, but has drawn some sharp reactions on YouTube,
with some branding it distasteful and disgusting and one even calling for a boycott of the company. The video is at: (here)
Chen didn't see any adverse reaction from Apple.
"It's just an impersonator, not Jobs," she said.
"We have no choice but to use Android, we can't use iOS," she added, referring to Apple's mobile device operating system.
It's not the first time Jobs' image has been used in Taiwan to promote products, a measure of his fame in the wired, tech-exporting island whose companies make most of Apple's products. Last year a drinks company had a Jobs look-alike promoting a green tea drink.
Jobs has also been featured by Taiwanese satirical news video maker Next Media Animation, which once portrayed him knocking the helmet off "Darth Vader" Bill Gates of Microsoft with a light saber and then wearing it himself and ruling the tech universe from an office in a Death Star.
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