Smartphone Security More Vital Due To Powerful New Information Storage Apps

Smartphones have become increasingly powerful, and that means that people are learning to use them in more creative ways. At the same time that consumers have become more creative about how they’re using their smartphones, app designers have figured out clever ways to utilize the power of these devices to store and access information, including critically important information.

This has all made security a much more important user issue and one that, even among those who aren’t particularly technically adept, is something that has to be learned.

The Hazard

The primary hazard with a smartphone is that the device is, by design, very portable. Combined with the fact that people are storing more sensitive information on these devices, this creates an opportunity for that information to get out into the world physically. Formerly, the main threat to sensitive user information stored in digital devices came from hackers utilizing network-based attacks to gain access to a computer.

Today, your average sneak thief could run away with a smartphone and all of the information it contains, should the user be sloppy with the device and leave it in an accessible place or leave it behind when they leave an establishment.

Fortunately, there are ways to lock down smartphones that can prevent information from being stolen. Some of the methods are included right in the operating systems and others are available by downloading apps, some of them free.

Passwords

Passwords are still the primary means by which most information is protected. On a smartphone, users have the option of password protecting the device to ensure that people without authorization cannot access it. This, of course, doesn’t prevent the device from being stolen outright, but it does prevent someone from being able to get at the information stored on the device, even if they happen to steal it.

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While many users out there don’t bother with this password protection, the sensitivity of the information that people are storing on their smartphones is making it vital for them to start doing so. When a device is stolen, the thief gets, essentially, two items instead of one.

They get the smartphone itself and the information on it. For certain types of thieves, the information contained on the device might actually be more valuable to them than the device itself, given that the trade-in value for smartphone is not particularly high.

Password protecting devices is one of the easiest and most secure ways of preventing people from accessing the information stored on them, but many users still fail to take this simple measure, which leaves them exposed to identity thieves and other nefarious individuals.

Apps

Some app designers are trying to encourage people to be more attentive to their own security by including passcode protection on the apps that they design. Most of the time, apps that are designed to store medical information, financial information or other personal information are protected by such a passcode.

Combined with a password for the smartphone itself, this can provide a good level of security and make it extremely difficult for anybody who steals a device to gain access to the information it contains. Smartphone security is more complex than home computer security.

After all, there’s little chance that anyone is going to go into your house and steal your computer physically – though it does happen sometimes – but there is a very good chance that, in a forgetful moment you might leave your smartphone laying on a table when you walk away or forget it somewhere else and provide a thief an opportunity to steal vital information.

   Ben Blanchard

About the Guest Author:

Ben Blanchard is the Programming Services Manager for Acadian, the creator of the Family Medical Manager app. The Family Medical Manager app is the definitive medical record app for families and individuals.