It’s 2017 and smartphone usage is way higher than anyone ever predicted. It’s great to live in an era of such technological advancements, where buying your favorite shirt, snapping your child’s birthday pictures and chatting with your friends is just fingertips away. Just a simple mobile device, a carrier sim and off you go to doing what would have taken ages a couple of decades back. But, doesn’t that all sound too good to be true? Have you ever stopped and wondered what could be the potential downsides of such advanced technology?
Easily accessing multiple online platforms through your smartphone is great but what if someone connects back with you? What if this someone is not your friend or family member but a hacker? What if this someone gets into your phone, steals your identity, contacts, passwords, etc. and sell them to potential advertisers or anyone else for profit?
Mobile data stealth should be the number one concern for smartphone users today. While these devices may seem safe and secure, believe it or not that’s a blatant lie. Contrary to the general misconception, smartphones have made your information way more vulnerable to hackers than your computers. Still wondering how? Here’s a sneak peek…
Reason # 1: Your Data is worth Actual Currency
Data protection is not just about privacy anymore. It’s about SECURITY! Let alone your friends or foes getting a hand on your Facebook password for a bit of fun. Think about the same getting into the hands of a professional hacker who would sell it for profit to organizations that are willing to buy. Go a little further, what about your checks, online money banking passwords, passports and the like. Sounds crazy already doesn’t it? Remember the credit card scams that happened in early 2000 when ecommerce was fairly a baby? Well, welcome to the smartphone world.
Reason # 2: Being Dominated by Thieves, Scams, etc.
Think for a minute; how much information have you already shared on your social media accounts, email accounts, on your text messages, WhatsApp messages and calls? It’s practically your entire life in data format. This information allows hackers and cybercriminals to make predictions on your moves and even show you ads for financial gain. We won’t get into name calling but try performing a simple Google search on ‘digital threat intelligence’ and you will get a bunch of organizations already providing such services to save organizations from being vulnerable to hackers. Reverse the roles and you have the hacker doing the same with you!
Reason # 3: Your data is accessible even after Factory Reset
Time to get real! Factory resets do not wipe off the data on your phone, they just make it inaccessible. Similarly, when you delete your files from your smartphone, they are only ever made inaccessible and never wiped off. Scary already right? If you don’t know it yet, many cybercriminals buy these old phones at dirt cheap prices to access your data.
How Can You Fight Back?
While all this seems scary, don’t worry, you still have some solid options to fight back and protect yourself. Most popular OS today do offer encryption services for your device and mobile but sadly they are a piece of cake for hackers and cybercriminals to eat. But, a highly recommended option is to buy and use encrypted mobile SIMs that offer top of the line security features to keep your identity always undercover. VIPLINE in the UK is one such service that offers customers encrypted mobile phone SIMs. This encryption is a5/1 data encryption alongside IMEI/IMSI hiding. In addition, you also get voice substitution functionality to ensure no one is tracking you via voice identification.
Your identity and data protection is crucial. While there are many free mobile applications that would promise to keep secure, in reality they hardly perform. And, you never know if these applications are being monitored as well. Therefore, buy encrypted mobile SIMs from registered organizations that would offer a bucket of security features unlike free apps and services.