It's that time of year again!
No matter how much you are/aren't looking forward to spending time with your family this Christmas, you will inevitably have to get through several weeks of Christmas shopping and Christmas parties.
One thing that is easily overlooked is the safety/vulnerability of your (often expensive) gadgets, especially at this time of the year.
I've previously mentioned my interest in cybersecurity, but this isn't where I'm heading with this blog entry. I'm talking about your personal security and how your mobile phone is your friend - and your enemy.
This time of year is an absolute bonus for thieves.
Most people are out and about, carrying cash and expensive gifts. Their minds are on all sorts of things, and they typically aren't very aware of their surroundings.
A hasty call on a mobile phone can easily lead to distraction, leaving that person vulnerable to attack, be it passively or aggressively.
Fifteen years ago, there were campaigns to stop people from standing outside the pub on a dark night with their mobile phone illuminating their face as they chatted away. Criminals then selected their target...
Nothing has changed, except that smartphones now have much brighter screens and are worth (frequently) much more money. Oh, and I bet that you use your phone a lot more, and in many more places than you did all those years ago.
Criminals can make very good money from selling stolen phones.
Most people don't register their devices, unless they have taken out insurance, so it's easy to sell on stolen goods with little traceability.
What's worse is that your mobile contains a huge amount of personal data:
The address of yourself, friends and family members.
Bank details - including access to your accounts through banking apps (passcodes are easy enough to crack, if criminals have the right experience).
Your calendar. This will include important dates (your birthdate + your address = identity theft.
Those calendar details are likely to include your holiday dates and other times when you'll be away from home. Maybe your work details are also on your phone. All of these bits of information can be simply pieced together to form a picture of who you are, what you do and where you'll be. If you don't want your house burgled, or to have someone knowing where you are likey to be, then having someone access your phone after it's been stolen is very bad news.
You can and should have some form of security on your phone. Lockscreens are ok, and best used with a code. (Patterns are easily traced from finger grease on the screen, face unlock is too insecure, and fingerprint scanning is much less secure than you would believe: It's a convenient gimmick, rather than a proper security measure.)
The best course of action is to have a remote lock and wipe function/app that you can access easily - should your phone be stolen or go missing.
Prevention is better than a cure, so in the first instance you should be aware of your surroundings and only take your phone out when it's safe to do so.
Nearly 48% of all mobile phone thefts/losses are in the pub, and at this time of year it's easy to drink too much and not pay attention to what you're doing. Certainly leaving your phone in full view on the bar is pretty stupid - You're advertising it to everyone.
You'd be even more stupid to leave it unattended if you go to the toilet, for example, but people do this all of the time.
So you're out on a night out, say, and your phone does go missing. This instantly leaves you without any personal communication, and good luck trying to remember your mate's phone number when you're sober, let alone drunk, tired, confused and possibly in unfamiliar territory.
For this reason alone, consider leaving your fancy phone at home and getting a "burner phone", or at least take sensible steps to avoid "losing" your mobile in the first place.
