Robert Siciliano
Online Security and Safety Evangelist to McAfee Robert is an identity theft expert who is committed to ...
Are you guilty as charged?
Whenever I bring this up in a group setting, it astonishes me how many people raise their hands. I wonder if they realize that they are putting all the personal information contained on their mobile device at risk. The unfortunate reality is that everyone loses things, and our devices can get stolen. And when that happens to your smartphone or tablet, it can be devastating.
Many of us use upwards of ten apps on our devices during a typical week. The majority of these apps are logged into our most critical accounts including email, text, banking, social media, payment apps and others that are linked to our credit cards. And because mobile app developers know that we are more apt to use their programs if they are easy to access and convenient to use, a lot of apps are programmed to automatically keep you logged in for days, weeks, months, or until you manually revoke access.
If your devices are not password protected and are then lost or stolen, your accounts are 100% accessible to whoever has control of your device. This is bad—and yet, 36% of us still do not use password protection!
According to a recent global survey by McAfee and One Poll, consumers seem largely unconcerned about keeping data on their mobile devices safe. For example, only one in five respondents have backed up the data on their smartphone and tablet, and more than one in ten (15%) save password information on their phone. This means that if their phone falls into the wrong hands, they risk opening up all sorts of personal information such as bank details and online logins to whoever finds the device.
Setting up a password or PIN is no guarantee that data will stay safe, and over half (55%) of all respondents admitted that they have shared these details with others, including their kids.
What’s particularly interesting is that men and women also behave differently with their mobile devices, not only in terms of how much risk they are willing to take, but also in terms of what they value.
Here are a few steps to make sure you and your mobile devices stay protected:
And if you’re at Mobile World Congress, stop by and see McAfee in Hall 3, Stand C34. If you show our team in the red shirts that you’ve liked them on Facebook or followed them on Twitter, you’ll get a prize!
Tags: Android, android antivirus, Android security, android security app, anti-phishing, anti-theft, anti-virus, antivirus, app protection, BlackBerry, identity theft, internet security, McAfee SiteAdvisor, Mobile, mobile antivirus, mobile app, mobile PIN, mobile security, mobile security app, phishing, QR codes, safe searching, Symbian, tablet security, web protection
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