Although we like to bring our readers all the news about new smartphones, tablet, apps and more we sometimes have to inform about the less savory side of the mobile world. Today we have news that smartphone spying is rising partly due to the many malicious apps that are on the market.
We are all so used to our smartphones now that they are a part of our everyday lives and we don’t often stop to think about how things can go wrong. The idea that our smartphones can spy on us isn’t something that many of us like to contemplate but this is happening and the number of free and low-cost malicious apps that are available is growing.
Smartphone spying can come in many forms, such as the recent case where a man recorded women at his workplace in the bathroom by hiding his iPhone in a tissue box placed on top of the toilet, as reported by NBC Connecticut. He had downloaded an app enabling his phone to be used as a remote recording device and proceeded to stream the video to his computer watching what went on live. Many apps, sometimes free ones, are enabling this kind of activity and are readily available.
Another kind of smartphone spying comes in the form of surveillance apps whereby if somebody obtains your phone, even if for a short while, they can install this type of app. Kessler International recently conducted a study on this form of spying and noted that users of Androids, BlackBerry’s and iPhone were most likely to be affected by this. This kind of unlawful spying enables the unauthorized user to switch on audio and visual recording using the app although the phone looks to be idle to its owner. Other instances of smartphone spying involve people hacking into a wireless connection that you’re using or through a cell phone network.
Another major factor to consider is that many smartphones now have GPS and an Internet connection can give spies access to all kinds of activity such as texts. As well as listening in to your phone calls some can even track your movement because of the GPS facility. It really is quite scary to consider that somebody could be tracing your every move and conversation and the two main things you can do to prevent this are to use anti-spyware software and never let anybody else have access to your phone.
You can find out much more about how to prevent smartphone spying at the earlier NBS link. You can also see more about this subject on the video that we’ve embedded for you below this story. Ultimately it’s down to all of us to safeguard our privacy by closely looking after our phones but to hear how easy this kind of spying can be is a real eye opener and should make us sit up and think. Have you ever considered how easy it is for your smartphone to be turned against you for such activity? Maybe you’ve been the victim of smartphone spying yourself? Let us know your experiences by sending your comments.