Mobile Computing

Cell phones, smart phones, tablets, netbooks and countless other mobile computing devices are a huge convenience for many of us, however they’re also too-often a huge open window into our lives and personal information for someone with a little bit of knowledge and malicious intentions.

Making the news recently has been the cases of phone hacking by British Tabloids. From victims of brutal crimes to the Royal Family, nobody was safe.

Not getting quite the same news coverage, but equally disturbing, have been numerous cases of intrusions into individual’s personal information on smaller scales, but for much more notorious reasons than hack journalism.

Now, none of this is really cause for heading for the hills after turning off and unplugging all of your electronics. But the fact is, mobile devices require a bit of due diligence by the user to help secure them better (there is no absolute security available to the general public) from such attacks.

A few things to keep in mind or that you can do to help protect yourself and your mobile devices are:

Keep The Default Settings

Most devices and pre-installed software on them will come to you with the default settings configured, and these default settings are typically the most secure configurations, so unless you have some really good reason for changing them, and have a full understanding of what each change you make will do, leave them as is.

Keep Up To Date

It can be an annoyance, but that’s part of the cost with security. Check for software/OS updates for your devices on a regular basis.

Boyfriend’s Names Make Bad Passwords, Ditto Pet Names

Always use strong passwords, with a mixture of lower and upper case lettering, and include some numbers and symbols if possible as well. A good password isn’t one that’s easy for you to remember, it’s one that’s impossible for anybody else to guess.

Don’t Allow Devices/Browser Software To Auto-Login To Sites For You

This seems like a convenience feature, but it means that your password is being stored in a readable format somewhere on your device, and that makes it vulnerable to prying eyes.

Free Often Has A Heavy Price

People love their apps, and people really love free apps, but before you install anything on your mobile device you should be sure to investigate the source and developers. It’s very easy to slip something that you really might not want into a piece of software or coding, then spread it out to the masses by offering it as a freebie, so know who you are dealing with before allowing them into your device.

Understand That Public Networks Are Open To The Public

See that shady character sitting across from you on the bus? The one with the hoodie up over his head and the devilishly pointed goatee. Would you step across the aisle and invite him into your home for tea tonight without a proper introduction first? Of course not, but you may be doing just that by utilizing a public Wi-Fi network, because a majority of public networks aren’t encrypted, which means logging on to them opens your data and device up to attack from any other users out there. This doesn’t mean you should avoid public networks, it just means you should be vigilant about what you do while on them.

Talk To Your Mobile Device/Service Providers

Believe it or not, most devices and service plans will come with a lot of good information about safe usage practices. Sadly, most of us (myself included) typically can’t be bothered reading through those little booklets until we have a problem, and by that time it’s usually too late. Still, you can always go back now and browse through the booklet(s), or if you’ve misplaced it (threw it away after turning your device on), you can always contact the support departments of your service provider and ask them for some tips or best practices ideas to keep you and your data safe.

Happy (and safe) computing!

Technorati Tags: mobile security