How to Protect Your Mobile Phone from Viruses?

As mobile phones evolve so too do the malicious software, situations, and perpetrators of such that they can fall prey to. It is imperative that all users of mobile phones remember that other people can and will use your cell phone to invade your privacy and personal space without ever even dialing your mobile phone number.

Because mobile phones have the marvelous talent for keeping a record of all calls made and received, they have become an obvious target for unscrupulous activity. Back in 2006, a number of reports appeared on the internet regarding a company that was marketing a piece of software capable of embedding itself in a mobile phone and remotely transmitting this "call log" to someone else's server.

This enabled suspicious spouses, for one, to buy their partner's call logs to allay or confirm whatever suspicions they may have. But even though the company went a long way to espouse their service's legitimacy for beneficial uses, it doesn't take a genius to figure out how such a capability could be put to malicious use. This software is, at heart, no different from spyware, and it is by no means alone. Spyware can also be used to determine your physical location via your cell phone. By way of the same innovations that enable 911 operators to identify the location of a caller in need, an unscrupulous individual could find out your location and use that knowledge against you.

Companies who develop and provide such tools condemn such activity and decry the benevolence of their products, but as we all know, it isn't the product that is good or bad but the use to which it is put. And while, on one hand, a parent could make excellent use of such a function to keep their kids safe, an untrusting employer could use it to invade their employees' privacy.

Spyware is just one type of malware, software directed at using your personal technology (like your mobile phone) against you. And as more and more people become reliant on their smartphones, means of making those devices less and less secure become ever more prevalent.

An effective form of malware can collect private data by the droves that can then be sold and otherwise utilized to harm individuals, families, careers, and whole organizations. Ask yourself what information you keep on your mobile phone? How much of it would you be okay with a stranger getting a hold of?

As cell phones become ever more intelligent, as they replace PCs as the personal electronics of choice, it is likely that this trend will not only continue but become increasingly exacerbated. A love of feature-filled mobile devices only overshadows the risk that goes hand-in-hand with such facility and convenience.
It is imperative that when consumers consider their mobile phones as their link to the outside world they remember that it is both for better and for worse. As the old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" and it is nowhere more true than in the realm of cell phones, personal privacy, and identity theft.