Mobile Phone Security
by Hailey Burke

It’s an event. A birthday. A celebration. You just got that promotion. You just bought a new car. You’re going overseas

With the technology or the mobile phone swooping in over the past decade and taking over as the main way of communication through technology, it’s not a surprise that it has become a concern for security risks.

Some of the main concerns that worry people about their mobile phones are:

• Receiving inappropriate or unsolicited content
• Fraudulent increases in mobile phone bills
• Loss of information stored on the phone
• Phone crashing/freezing
• Theft of private information ‘over the air’
• Bluetooth spying or remote monitoring
• Infecting friends and colleagues with viruses

Seeing as it’s unusual to find someone who doesn’t have a mobile phone the use of mobile viruses and spamming is only going to increase.

Some of the better known mobile phone viruses are:

• Mosquito – Sends text messages to premium-rate numbers without the user’s knowledge or approval.
• Brador – Deletes files, resets the phone and sends contents such as an address book, emails or photos to a third party.
• Skulls – Deactivates all links to applications on the phone, including emails, instant messenger and the calendar, and then replaces all the icons with an image of a skull

Though mobile phone spamming and viruses are not as common as they are on computers, with the incorporation of having internet on you mobile phone and Bluetooth the risk factor or your mobile becoming infected is increasing. Some tips and precautions to take to help prevent your mobile phone from attracting viruses are:

• Treat your mobile just like you would your computer.

• Lock it when it’s not in use
• Use passwords for any online sign ins and make sure they’re complicated enough.
• Avoid opening messages from senders you don’t recognise
• If you lose your phone, call your carrier to let them know immediately
• Back up your files frequently
• Log off the internet when not using it
• Turn off Bluetooth when not using it
• Be careful when downloading ring tones, games etc.
• Install some security software onto your mobile (not all phones come with it)