So here is the question - “are the mobile phones next on the hackers list of targets ?”

To answer this we have to look at how the mobile devices themselves. If we cast our minds back just a little bit, the mobile phones were just that - phones. You could make AND receive phone calls and have talk time of about 30 minutes before having to recharge that battery. This has completely changed and now we have phones that are in colour, have music capabilities, take photos and video clips with sound, store documents, record minutes of meetings, have Internet access, synchronise with our pc, have our appointments, emails and contacts etc. etc. etc. etc. - so in other words they are just like our PC (just smaller)

So going back to the question - hackers, virus writers, spammers - all look for the weakest link in order to attack it and exploit it. Finally over the years people have finally understood the need for anti-virus and firewalls and Updates - so the pc is getting harder and harder to access. However, how many people do you know who have their phone’s anti-virus installed and updated ? How many people have firewalls on their phone ? So are these mini-computers vulnerable ? You bet !!!

Think of it this way: You have your bluetooth enabled and set to discoverable with no protection, a hacker sitting in the same coffee shop secretly loads spyware software on your phone. You get back to the office and synchronise your phone with your pc and this software moves from your phone to your company network !

These days Identity theft is on the increase and you travel with your little min-computer/ phone all day and night - so hackers have easier access to your phone and therefore to your personal infromation.

So now what ?

Well, anti-virus companies are developign solutions for the mobile platform - find one and install it and keep it updated.

Make sure bluetooth is off untill you need it and make sure your Wi-Fi on your phone is also off untill you need to use it.

DO NOT put sensittive information or access sensitive websites (scuh as banking sites etc. )in a public hot spot

When you store info on your phone, put some sort of encryption on it at the very least come up with something that only you know. For example: if you store your PIN number invert the last two digits so a PIN 19876 becomes 19867

Be street wise -

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