# Lifestyles & Discussion > Science & Technology >  Your most dangerous possession? Your smartphone

## tangent4ronpaul

http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/11/pf/smartphone_dangers/

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Forget what's in your wallet -- beware your smartphone. It's becoming one of your most dangerous possessions.

If your phone was stolen a few years ago, the thief could make prank calls and read your text messages. Today, that person can destroy your social life -- you said what on Facebook?! -- and wreak havoc on your finances.

Now that smartphones double as wallets and bank accounts -- allowing users to manage their finances, transfer money, make payments, deposit checks and swipe their phones as credit cards -- they are very lucrative scores for thieves. And with 30% of phone subscribers owning iPhones, BlackBerrys and Droids, there are a lot of people at risk.

"It's crazy the amount of information on that phone -- it's like carrying a mini-computer around with you, except that more people know the settings on their computer than they do on their phones at this point," said Nikki Junker, social media coordinator and victim advisor at Identity Theft Resource Center. "People are incredibly at risk as technology improves."

And mobile banking use is expected to soar by nearly 55% next year, according to recent data compiled by TowerGroup, a research firm for the financial services industry.

They found that while 17.8 million consumers used mobile banking last year, 27.4 million are expected to use it this year, and 53.1 million consumers are forecast to adopt it by 2013. 

...

And pay-by-phone is only going to get easier as our devices come embedded with Near Field Communication (NFC) devices that allow you to pay for your morning latte by waving your phone at the cash register.

Companies like Blaze Mobile and Bling Nation already let you pay major retailers by swiping your smartphone thanks to a sticker adhered to the outside of your phone. Meanwhile, an app created by mFoundry brings up an image of your Starbuck prepaid card barcode and lets you scan it in lieu of a credit card.

"A lot of players are now pushing to drive the contactless technology," said Gwenn Bezard, 

...

Watch your phone! Security attacks on smartphones climbed to an all-time high in 2010, according to AdaptiveMobile, an international mobile security firm. Specifically, attacks on Google's Android smartphones quadrupled, and smartphones running Java-based applications jumped 45%.

"Bad guys are following where the people are going -- and people are going to smartphones," said Peabody. "As smartphone prices continue to decline and even more people get them, that's definitely the new place for bad guys to go."

While storing a password and keeping your phone locked is a good start, it's not going to protect you from professional fraudsters.

"Don't think that having an initial password set on your phone can stop people from getting in there," said Junker. "It's a very low level of protection -- you can even find 30-second videos on how to crack smartphone passwords on YouTube."

If you use mobile banking or make online payments frequently, you should invest in anti-virus protection and check with your bank about any security or identity theft protection features that you can enable.

Most smartphones also offer remote wipe-out services -- like MobileMe for the iPhone -- that automatically erase the information on your phone if you claim it as lost or stolen.

If you bank with your phone by accessing its website rather than opening an app, be extra careful when typing in the address. Some identity thefts create domains with the same address as major banks with two letters switched in hopes a consumer will accidentally land on the site and enter their username and password, said Junker.

And make sure you immediately log out of any bank apps or sites where your financial information is stored as soon as you're finished. While your identity is still at risk if your phone is stolen, this will buy you time to wipe out your information as soon as you realize it's gone.

----------


## dannno

Ya I recently password protected my phone, but according to the article you can hack those..

----------


## Anti Federalist

I have a 15 year old i700 and don't worry about it.

It's bad enough what's happening, and hard enough to avoid it when it's mandated, I'll be $#@!ed and double damned if I'm going to pay some corporate/government sluts for the *privilege* of tying a bunch of electronic shackles on me.

----------


## Agorism

The iphone is well worth it...seriously.

I thought it would suck so I stuck to an old phone. Then I bought an iphone and realized that it was essentially a pocket sized laptop. All ur emails synced and text messages and internet and apps.

...I really like the thing more than my computer I think.

Now u just need to be able to print from it.

----------


## qh4dotcom

> The iphone is well worth it...seriously.
> 
> Now u just need to be able to print from it.


There's an app for that

----------


## axiomata

> There's an app for that


funny AND true

----------


## Agorism

I think u need special printer or something tho.

They need usb ports on it, and make it exactly like a mac computer almost mixed with iphone os.

----------


## RCA

$#@! smart phones. I've gotten free phones from Verizon for at least the past 5 years each time I renew my contract. Early adoption can take a flying leap for all I care.

----------


## MelissaCato

Well that sucks. All my old phones were stolen. If is wouldn't be for people stealing my cell phones, I'd prolly never upgrade to like say the Android X. Ohhh well. I love my cell phone.  ;o)
;

----------


## Agorism

The new iphones u can turn off and lock remotely from ur computer with mobile me log int through browsers. You can also make it ring or alarm remotely, and look at it's GPS location. So if you don't know where it's at u can see on google maps.

If course that's kind of spooky\big brother, but I don't see what's wrong with it since the government has that ability anyways whether or not the consumer does or not.

I've also seen a funny app that people can download to entice criminals called like passwords or contacts or something that u can set up that will email u remotely and lock phone if anyone opens it and hits a certain list. Basically it's just to think like a criminal would.

----------


## Vessol

I use an el cheap net10 pre-paid phone. It can call people and even send text messages!

----------


## Agorism

In other countries u can just buy a 10 dollar phone and buy a sim card, and throw it in. Then you make calls for a month, throw it away at the end, and that's it.

No one even knows that it belonged to you since you don't register. You use it as a walking pay phone almost paid by the month.

I think we need this system here, but I still love smartphones.

----------


## Kludge

In America, you take the gov't-issued phones from the dead which continue to accumulate a generous # of minutes every month.

<3 Bureaucracy

----------


## Zap!

> I think u need special printer or something tho.
> 
> They need usb ports on it, and make it exactly like a mac computer almost mixed with iphone os.


You just need a wi-fi printer. Nearly all the printers today are wi-fi. No USB is needed. You can print even if you're in another room.

----------


## MRK

> In other countries u can just buy a 10 dollar phone and buy a sim card, and throw it in. Then you make calls for a month, throw it away at the end, and that's it.
> 
> No one even knows that it belonged to you since you don't register. You use it as a walking pay phone almost paid by the month.
> 
> I think we need this system here, but I still love smartphones.


It is possible to preserve anonymity with 'pay as you go' phones in the United States if you pay for the phone and airtime with cash and sign up for the service online via a computer (or sometimes simply via a MAC address) that isn't tied to you.

----------


## BarryDonegan

Smartphones are an evolutionary step in the human brain.

It's literally like having the ability to access every piece of information in the world when your brain's internal memory doesn't have that item handy.

----------


## osan

Smart Card technology, which is the basis for the Smart Phone, was invented at Bell Labs in NJ and included near field technology for powering and communicating with the device - what they then called the "contactless interface".  

I was an MTS (Member of Technical Staff) at Bell in those days and was invited to a lecture on this emerging development back in 1991 or 1992.  There were about 500 people present, best I could gage by eye, from all over Bell and AT&T.  The presentation was given in two parts, an intermission between.  The first part described the technical makeup of the system and the second the nature of its applications and what it represented in terms of the "social change" it would bring.  

I stood at the back of the auditorium and as the nature of the technology started becoming apparent to me, particularly the potential for abuse, I began watching the others in search or any indication that they also had some concerns.  Nothing.  The intermission was called and as I stood watching the exiting faces and picking up clips of conversation as people passed by, I saw nothing but smiles and heard lots of "this is really amazing..." and so on.

When we reconvened, the discussion took a turn to the applications where it was stated most unequivocally and in a very matter-of-fact tone that when the SmartCard becomes ubiquitous (and the underlying assumption that it would was clear) every detail of your life would be kept there.  Name, address, ID photo, signature, social security number, bank records, medical records, _criminal records_, credit information, _passport and driver's license,_ insurance accounts, military service record, _purchasing history_, securities holdings, _driving record_ credit cards, _social affiliations_, and oddly enough, charitable activity was mentioned as well. 

In short, everything about you, regardless whether you wanted it there, would be on that card.  It was very specifically pointed out that you, the card holder, would have _NO SAY_ as to what was kept on that device, nor would _you_ have access to  the information.  The speaker said that it would all be there for a greater good, and those were the _precise_ words used!  I am dead serious about that.

The speaker went on about how the card would not only become the saving cornerstone of everyone's lives, what with the security and _convenience_ it would endow, but how it would become eventually impossible to transact business of any sort without one.  I kid you not - had I not witnessed this first hand I would have been hesitant to accept that anyone in such a position would have made such claims, especially to such an audience.  This was, after all, Bell Telephone Laboratories and not some convention of nerd scifi hacks or New World Order paranoids.  

They went so far as to describe how the card could be used to track criminals and how wonderful this was because it enhanced security for all.

The only treatment of loss/theft questions came in the statement that the cards were perfectly secure because all the information was encrypted and that only reliable sources would have the key.  Reliable as in a cash register at McDonald's. OK.  The only other downside mentioned, and this was being very obviously minimized, was how your ability to eat and gain shelter or transit home might be completely curtailed in the event of loss.  No details were given that I can recall as to how people finding themselves in such circumstances would manage.  I suppose that was not really so important, considering the "greater good".

As the speaker went on, what had been dead and enraptured silence was suddenly being punctuated with exchanges between audience members.  I noticed that many of those near enough to mecontained lots of "oh $#@!" and similar expressions of concern.

When the presentation was concluded, I stood by the main exit and carefully studied the faces of those exiting.  Very few smiles were to be detected this time, though there were some - and I noticed a certain glaze to the eyes of those people, no joke - they were loving it to the 9s.  I observed many frowning brows and verbal expressions of how this technology looked very dangerous in terms of personal privacy and security.  I was both relieved and surprised at this.  Relieved to find that I was not the only person seeing what I saw, and surprised that so many others saw it too, especially out of an AT&T crowd, whom I regarded in those days as penultimate go-along-to-get-along types of people.

The Smart Phone and what it represents - the threat that goes hand in hand with the convenience and shiny-sparkly bits - has been in the works a long-ish time.  None of this is new and while the intentions of the men I met who invented all this may have been innocent and noble enough, we all know what such intentions and $3.75 will buy you at Starbucks.

BTW, when during intermission I spoke with the head of the team that invented all this, I did raise the issues of security and abuse.  He expressed absolute confidence in the trustworthiness of people and government officials to always do the right things and that any inconvenience that errors might impose upon anyone would be more than justified by the greater good it represented.  He even chided me in a very mild way, admonishing me not to see the worst side of it.  While I did not question his sincerity, his rank naivete left me shaking my head as I walked away.

----------


## roho76

> The iphone is well worth it...seriously.
> 
> I thought it would suck so I stuck to an old phone. Then I bought an iphone and realized that it was essentially a pocket sized laptop. All ur emails synced and text messages and internet and apps.
> 
> ...I really like the thing more than my computer I think.
> 
> Now u just need to be able to print from it.


You can print from the iPhone. All you need is a printer hooked up to your wifi. This was released in the 4.2 update. But I still can't see embeded YouTube videos on RPF's.

----------


## Anti Federalist

+rep

And so they packaged this thing into a "consumer commodity", dressed it up with bells, whistles and the "shiny sparkly bits" you mentioned, and people giddily buy it up.

I'd only complain about one thing:




> New World Order paranoids


As a New World Order paranoid myself, I'd say your story, from almost 20 years ago now, completely justifies my healthy paranoia.

This is *not* going to end well...




> Smart Card technology, which is the basis for the Smart Phone, was invented at Bell Labs in NJ and included near field technology for powering and communicating with the device - what they then called the "contactless interface".  
> 
> I was an MTS (Member of Technical Staff) at Bell in those days and was invited to a lecture on this emerging development back in 1991 or 1992.  There were about 500 people present, best I could gage by eye, from all over Bell and AT&T.  The presentation was given in two parts, an intermission between.  The first part described the technical makeup of the system and the second the nature of its applications and what it represented in terms of the "social change" it would bring.  
> 
> I stood at the back of the auditorium and as the nature of the technology started becoming apparent to me, particularly the potential for abuse, I began watching the others in search or any indication that they also had some concerns.  Nothing.  The intermission was called and as I stood watching the exiting faces and picking up clips of conversation as people passed by, I saw nothing but smiles and heard lots of "this is really amazing..." and so on.
> 
> When we reconvened, the discussion took a turn to the applications where it was stated most unequivocally and in a very matter-of-fact tone that when the SmartCard becomes ubiquitous (and the underlying assumption that it would was clear) every detail of your life would be kept there.  Name, address, ID photo, signature, social security number, bank records, medical records, _criminal records_, credit information, _passport and driver's license,_ insurance accounts, military service record, _purchasing history_, securities holdings, _driving record_ credit cards, _social affiliations_, and oddly enough, charitable activity was mentioned as well. 
> 
> In short, everything about you, regardless whether you wanted it there, would be on that card.  It was very specifically pointed out that you, the card holder, would have _NO SAY_ as to what was kept on that device, nor would _you_ have access to  the information.  The speaker said that it would all be there for a greater good, and those were the _precise_ words used!  I am dead serious about that.
> ...

----------


## Agorism

> if you pay for the phone and airtime with cash and sign up for the service online


There is no way to pay online while preserving anonymity. Paypal, credit cards, even those greendot cards can all be traced back to you.

In other countries you can buy phones with cash, and sim cards with cash...and I mean like 5 bucks at a gash station like you would buy a candy bar or something.

----------


## Michael Landon

I use a land-line.  No cell phone.

- ML

----------


## MelissaWV

Good thing my phone isn't "smart."

It just, you know, makes calls and texts and stuff.

----------


## QueenB4Liberty

I like my iPhone.

----------


## osan

> +repI'd only complain about one thing:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 			
> 				New World Order paranoids
> 			
> ...


I must have been too subtle... the medium is not conducive to all forms.

What I was driving at was that the people delivering this presentation were real live scientist-0s whose credibility along the lines in question were pretty much beyond dispute, vis-a-vis the so-called "paranoids" whose reps are $#@! with people who are unwilling or incapable of considering rationally made points that do not dovetail well with their world views.  So what I was saying is that these guys were serious as heart attacks and could not be readily labeled as kooks.

All these years later, their vision has not only been put into place, it has happened with enhancements they may not have dreamed of at that time.  The SmartCard was a completely passive device in that there was no interacting with one except at a terminal device and only in very limited ways.  Smart phones add a whole new and highly expansive dimension to the original technology.  IOW it is even worse than we thought it would be.

Are we having fun yet?

----------


## Dreamofunity

> Are we having fun yet?


I am. Have you played Fruit Ninja yet?

----------


## Anti Federalist

Thanks for the clarification.

Having more fun than I can possibly stand.




> I must have been too subtle... the medium is not conducive to all forms.
> 
> What I was driving at was that the people delivering this presentation were real live scientist-0s whose credibility along the lines in question were pretty much beyond dispute, vis-a-vis the so-called "paranoids" whose reps are $#@! with people who are unwilling or incapable of considering rationally made points that do not dovetail well with their world views.  So what I was saying is that these guys were serious as heart attacks and could not be readily labeled as kooks.
> 
> All these years later, their vision has not only been put into place, it has happened with enhancements they may not have dreamed of at that time.  The SmartCard was a completely passive device in that there was no interacting with one except at a terminal device and only in very limited ways.  Smart phones add a whole new and highly expansive dimension to the original technology.  IOW it is even worse than we thought it would be.
> 
> Are we having fun yet?

----------


## Freedom 4 all

No offense if anyone here does it, but keeping important bank information on a device that's incredibly easy to steal never struck me as a smart move.

----------


## oyarde

> No offense if anyone here does it, but keeping important bank information on a device that's incredibly easy to steal never struck me as a smart move.


I would not be keeping any info on it ....  If you snagged my crappy phone , about all you could do is call first wife with it  : )

----------


## osan

> +rep
> 
> I'd only complain about one thing:
> 
> 
> 
> As a New World Order paranoid myself, I'd say your story, from almost 20 years ago now, completely justifies my healthy paranoia.
> 
> This is *not* going to end well...


Do not misunderstand - I was making the statement from the standpoint of the orthodox view of things.  NWO types are all nutters according to the accepted version of reality.  These were DMTSs out of Bell Friggin' Labs - voices with which to reckon.  BTW DMTS is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.  To become that you had to have done something pretty significant to the world, like invent the telephone or something.  I was not very distinguished.

----------

