Identity theft is all around us.  Credit.com wrote a recent article regarding the dumbest risks people take with their smartphones.  We as a society do not think twice about using our phones to check account balances and make payments.  We also do not think that most of this sensitive data is stored directly on our phones.  Along with contact information for friends, family, and colleagues.  If you have not taken the right steps, if you lost your phone, you could be in for a very rude awakening.  Here are the 10 dumbest things people do or fail to do with their smartphones.

  1. No password protection – locking your phone if a simple thing that all smartphone users should do.  It may not be foolproof, but it certainly helps.
  2. Shop online with an internet browser instead of a shopping app – Unlike browsers – dedicated shopping apps are designed to ward off phishing and other kinds of scams
  3. Remain logged into banking, PayPal, eBay and other sensitive apps – While it may be a pain, for security reasons you should NEVER click the box asking the app to save your user ID or password.  Log in every time, it truly doesn’t take that long.
  4. Automatically connect to any available WiFi connections – Hackers with the right software can easily hack your phone, as security experts have warned us for more than a decade.
  5. Leave Bluetooth connections open – Have you heard of Bluejacking, Bluesnarfing, Bluebugging?  These are all words that describe a hacker exploiting open Bluetooth connection on your phone.
  6. Fail to properly purse data from old smartphones – Be sure to delete data prior to getting rid of your old phone.  Setting it back to factory settings is the easiest way to do this.
  7. Download “free” apps that aren’t actually free – Be sure you are smart and discreet about what you download.  Read reviews first, make sure the apps you download come from reputable sources.
  8. Storing sensitive data on phones – Passwords, pins, social security numbers, credit card or bank account information…these are just a few items that people store on their smartphones.  Don’t do it!
  9. Failing to clear browser history – A thief can use your history to hijack your accounts.
  10. No remote wiping software – This is just one more layer of protection you can use.

To read the entire article – click here.