Protect Your Personal Info

We all know the need for antispy and antivirus protection for our PCs and laptops, at home and work. But most of us probably haven’t given much thought to our handheld devices, especially smartphones.

It’s scary, but the chances of getting personal information hijacked from your iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or similar device are far greater, even if you believe the phone is turned off.

It costs only $15 for spyware purchased over the Internet to gain access to your phone and all it contains – text messages, e-mails, photographs and files; and track your location through constant GPS updates.

Your phone can even be turned into a surreptitious microphone. “When the phone is off – in a pocket, purse or on a table – it can remotely be turned on so conversations around the phone can be heard,” says Tim Wilcox, owner of International Investigators Inc., an Indianapolis security firm.

The best defense is to use a handset pass code to lock your phone and prevent others from using it, writes Sid Kirchheimer for AARP Bulletin. And never open links in e-mails sent to you by unknown parties. If you don’t recognize the person’s name or company in the e-mail address, delete it.

For complete privacy, Wilcox says, “Your best defense is to buy a $20 phone with prepaid minutes for your sensitive conversations.”

Even the most innocent of activities can put you and loved ones at risk, notes Dick Eastman, who blogs on computers and genealogy. The security gap has to do with GPS tracking.

“Pictures taken with GPS-equipped digital cameras usually embed the GPS coordinates within each picture,” Eastman says.

“Most cameras have an option to turn this capability on or off, but the default setting usually is ON. Unless you have taken action to specify otherwise, the camera probably is recording the exact location of every picture you take, plus or minus 10 feet to perhaps 50 feet.”

Eastman adds that not all digital cameras are GPS equipped although most smartphones do have both cameras and GPS capabilities. That uploaded digital photo to Facebook of your new car or your kids playing in the yard can provide exact locations.

Not convinced you might have a problem?

Security experts say millions of smartphones already may be infected with spyware, though the risk for basic “dumb” cell phones is far less.

Some Warning Signs

•Your bill may show texts to unknown phone numbers, often occurring at the same time as legitimate calls. It's at these numbers, surreptitiously called by the spyware, that someone is monitoring you.

•The battery is warm when the phone isn't in use, or it dies quickly — this may mean power is being drained by the spyware.

•Your phone flickers when not in use.

Confirming a spyware infection isn't easy. The phone needs to be sent to a lab where experts look for a few lines of identifying programming code.

“With the typical smartphone having up to 300,000 lines, it's finding a needle in a haystack,’’ says Wilcox, whose company charges $2,200 for such jobs.

What We See

WMB's advice is to educate yourself thoroughly on the features of any device you own that contains personal information and, of course, be very careful about what you upload online, especially if it involves an unprotected smartphone.

Today’s fast-evolving technology is a wonderful thing in the right hands; in the wrong hands, it can be a nightmare for unsuspecting consumers.

As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

 Ken Cocuzzo