OPINION: Five ways to ensure your phone is hacked

August 16th, 2012, 22:49 Posted By: wraggster

Alan Wlasuk, of 403 Web Security, provides some top tips. Do the opposite if you want to avoid being ripped off.
When I was growing up, my father used to say: “Beauty is only skin deep, but dumb goes clear to the bone.” Feel free to draw your own conclusions.
As we collectively wander the world with our smartphones glued to our lives, most of us don’t realise how fragile the relationship really is with this device.
Think about it — you have your diary, wallet, phone, social support system and best friend all wrapped up in one piece of hardware.
One slip, and it’s all toast.
Your diary is hidden under the mattress; your wallet is securely tucked in your jeans; and your best friend knows your girlfriend is way off limits. Yet your smartphone gets left on the counter at Starbucks and you continue to download apps written in a cyber crime-lab in the Ukraine.


Bone-deep dumb” is well within the reach of us all.
Smartphone security disasters come in many forms. Given my security background and my circle of friends and relatives, I think I may have seen every smartphone misjudgment known to mankind.
For your entertainment, education, and help in avoiding a big ‘Hack me, please’ sign on your back, I’ve listed my top five smartphone mistakes below:

1. Download apps from unverified sources

Whether you know it or not, every app on your smartphone is a potential security risk. A well-meaning app treats you fair, while a malicious app might be recording your keystrokes, accessing your contact list, and signing you up for expensive services you never wanted. Every app is a potential risk, but the ones you download from unauthorised sources are far riskier. Either use authorised Apple, Google, and Microsoft app stores or risk an unexpected friend sharing your smartphone with you.

2. Jailbreak your smartphone
There seems to be some appeal to be the guy who holds up his jailbroken smartphone (ie modified to bypass the original security features). But there’s a reason they don’t let lawn tractors into hotel lobbies, just as there’s a reason to trust Apple, Google, and Microsoft. They have built smartphone operating systems that protect us from security risks. Everyone who thinks they’re smarter than the guys at Google should mount their lawn tractors for the next race.

3. Go smartphone commando — no passcode

Imagine the embarrassment of strangers wandering through your smartphone. This would be so easy to arrange; just lose your phone without a passcode set. Emails and photos would be hit first, then social apps, and finally any app that could be used for fun and profit. The guitar you just unexpectedly bought for an unknown 16-year-old through your eBay account might be the least of your problems. Explaining your new Facebook status (your upcoming marriage to the Russian cross-dresser) to Grandma might worse. Fun fact: 62 per cent of smartphone users do not use password protection (Javelin Strategy & Research).

4. Store secrets on your phone

So you’ve added a passcode and you never download an app that doesn’t have a pedigree. Feeling safe, you’re storing all kinds of secret and embarrassing things on your smartphone. But I'm afraid some pasty-looking kid living in his mom’s basement could break your code in about 30 minutes. Maybe keeping those pictures from Las Vegas are not the best idea. Repeat after me: There are no secrets; there are no 100 per cent secure smartphones.

5. Ignore OS updates

When your crazy boyfriend moves out, you change the locks. It’s inexpensive, and your flat-panel TV will be there when you get home from work. Think of the hackers as your crazy ex and Apple (or Google or Microsoft) as handling the new locks. So when the OS makers send out a new update, it almost always means they have fixed a security problem. The more updates you skip, the more likely you are to get hacked. The bill you get for the fake calls to Bolivia (remember that seedy web site you visited?) will cost you more than a new TV.
A final tip from my dad: Never pay for a subway token with a $50 bill.

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