Saturday, May 7, 2016

Can your phone be hacked?

Yes, of course that computer in our pocket is easily hacked. When that happens, the hacker can see all of your phone data—email messages, account information, credit card numbers, text messages, bank information—and the bad guy can even listen to your calls. What is even creepier than that is the fact that the hacker can turn on your video camera and watch you without your knowledge.

How hard is it to hack a phone? It's not. Watch this 13-minute CBS News 60 Minutes episode "Hacking Your Phone," for a live demonstration of hackers listening in on a congressman's phone.

They say there are two types of people in this world: Those who know that their phones have been hacked, and those who don't know that their phones have been hacked.

Want more protection for your phone? Stay educated and alert, don't randomly connect to public Wi-Fi networks, don't click unexpected links (or attachments) delivered to you via texts or email messages, encrypt your data, keep your operating system and apps up to date, and consider installing a security app like Lookout. That happens to be the app that I use.

Other tips:
- FCC Smartphone Security Checker
- Smartphone Security (by Kaspersky)
8 common sense tips to keep your smartphone secure (by Verizon)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.