Your smartphone could lead to identity theft, if it doesn’t give you cancer first…

Security PadlockThe WHO (World Health Organization) proclamation that cell phones could, maybe, possibly, some way somehow, cause cancer has a bunch of people up in arms.. There are now groups of people swearing off cell phone usage, and now places declaring they are a “cell phone free zone” all in a matter of hours after the WHO announcement.

Sure, they may have a valid concern, but what about the more immediate concern about your smart phone security?

Not much is being said about this one, but I hope that will change. It seems that users of smartphones will believe anything! If an app asks for credentials to a social media site, people give them without questioning it at all. A group of researchers published their findings about 100 apps designed for both the iPhone and Android phones in which they came up with more than a dozen ways in which scammers could utilize malicious code to allow the collection of user names and passwords on popular social media sites!
Here’s their findings…. http://w2spconf.com/2011/papers/felt-mobilephishing.pdf

Obviously, the phishing is good in smartphone land!

Expect more to be said about this from security experts and news outlets as time goes on.

BTW: The next time you are prompted for your credentials, you might want to just think about WHY you would need to give them….

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