a bit more on the smartphones, worth mentioning since they're mainstream now
Androids really do seem to be having ongoing issues with security:
http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/android-phone-users-warned-over-botnet/story-fn6vihic-1226418405007
and another nasty has popped up in the iPhone that people really need to
know about which suggests old iPhones should be destroyed and not resold or
passed to a third party (not very environmentally friendly but hey):
http://www.news.com.au/technology/smartphones/iphone-security-glitch-means-personal-data-could-be-accessed-by-strangers-even-after-memory-wipe/story-fn6vihic-1226416998615
"The problem arises with certain apps .. which use the phone's unique ID
(known as "UDID") to log you in. (If you wipe your phone and ) ..your phone's
new owner downloads the same app they will be automatically logged in under
your name together with all your data, the report said"
Now sure the apps they refer to are iffy ones, but any site or program
could use such a method of logging and the user would need to do a lot of
digging to find which sites and programs used the UDID as an identifier and
would need to avoid that program/site unless they wanted to risk revealing
sensitive information. which as they say, can never be wiped from the phone
as it is the acutal phone that provides the UDID.
Some things people using these phones can and should do is use the variously
available software for backing up their data regularly and install software
that permits them to either remotely locate or wipe and lock their phones
should they be lost or stolen. Be aware though that passwords with such
things should be very complex, as such programs can also be used to spy on
the legitimate user - and some of these programs can be set to stealth mode
so they're undetectable on the phone, which in it's self is a "security
threat"... and some antivirus will actually report them as viruses - which
they are really, just viruses the legitimate owner is using to control their
own phone for their own protection.
here are 2 such things for winmobile:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=464336
http://smartphonetracker.blogspot.com.au/
k
