Even though smartphones are getting slimmer and sleeker, they have increased capacities that allow them to store and transmit huge amounts of data. From geotagging on your photos to information tracked by search engines, your phone is a treasure trove of personal data. Take a look at some of the information you can glean about a person from looking at his or her cell phone.
Your Contacts
Your contacts include names, home, work, and cell phone numbers, street addresses, and email addresses. This is information you input into your phone or pull in from your email account or social media platforms. A thief can pretend to be you and send an email to all your contacts asking for money. While you certainly don’t want to risk having a friend or family member fall prey to such a scam, you also don’t want the embarrassment that goes along with having to explain to all your contacts that your phone and its data have been compromised.
Your contacts include names, home, work, and cell phone numbers, street addresses, and email addresses. This is information you input into your phone or pull in from your email account or social media platforms. A thief can pretend to be you and send an email to all your contacts asking for money. While you certainly don’t want to risk having a friend or family member fall prey to such a scam, you also don’t want the embarrassment that goes along with having to explain to all your contacts that your phone and its data have been compromised.
Besides seeing who you know, someone who looks at your phone can see the people you frequently contact by phone, text, email, chat, and other modes of communication. In addition to seeing the names, most phones reveal the time of these interactions.
Many people store their own information in their phone such as home and work address. Keeping this information on your phone makes it vulnerable, unless you take steps to protect it such as locking your phone with a code.
Financial Information
If you check your bank account, pay bills, or conduct other financial transactions on your phone, there’s a decent chance that someone who looks at your phone could glean enough information to steal your identity and money. They’ll definitely see where you bank and possibly your account number. This is a very real concern if you’ve stored passwords on your phone because then there is no real barrier to stop someone from accessing your accounts.
If you check your bank account, pay bills, or conduct other financial transactions on your phone, there’s a decent chance that someone who looks at your phone could glean enough information to steal your identity and money. They’ll definitely see where you bank and possibly your account number. This is a very real concern if you’ve stored passwords on your phone because then there is no real barrier to stop someone from accessing your accounts.
According to a report from KAAL-TV, the threat is real enough that Congress is considering legislation that would require cell phone companies to give victims of cell phone theft access to a “kill switch” so they can wipe all data off their phones after they’re stolen. If you have an unlimited data plan that’s made it possible to do all your banking online, the kill switch could come in handy to prevent identity theft.
Where You’ve Been
If you use map tools on your smartphone, someone who checks these apps can determine the places you’ve researched, and the routes you’ve asked the phone to show you. Online services such as Google send cookies to your phone to track the location of users, the routes they use, and their search history. Geotagging on photos also tie your phone (and by extension, you) to specific locations at specific times.
Apps such as Foursquare and Waze collect and store geographic-specific data. Anyone who picks up your phone and opens these apps can review the history and see where you’ve been at certain times on certain days. People voluntarily input information into these apps. However, most phones now have GPS tracking that automatically record your location. Anyone who has turned on the GPS services on their phone is creating a record of where they’ve been and a time stamp to go along with the location.
If you use map tools on your smartphone, someone who checks these apps can determine the places you’ve researched, and the routes you’ve asked the phone to show you. Online services such as Google send cookies to your phone to track the location of users, the routes they use, and their search history. Geotagging on photos also tie your phone (and by extension, you) to specific locations at specific times.
Apps such as Foursquare and Waze collect and store geographic-specific data. Anyone who picks up your phone and opens these apps can review the history and see where you’ve been at certain times on certain days. People voluntarily input information into these apps. However, most phones now have GPS tracking that automatically record your location. Anyone who has turned on the GPS services on their phone is creating a record of where they’ve been and a time stamp to go along with the location.
Websites you Visit
Even erasing your browsing history may not be enough to prevent someone from seeing the websites you’ve visited on your smartphone. Many websites hand out cookies faster than the Girl Scouts, and those cookies remain on your phone even after you clear the history, leaving a trail of crumbs showing where you were browsing.
Documents You Create
If you use Google Docs and have your smartphone connected to Gmail, then someone looking at your phone could access those documents. While it’s convenient to have so many interconnected services through Google, it also creates a huge vulnerability if your phone falls into the wrong hands.
What concerns you the most about someone accessing information you have stored on your smartphone. Do you feel federal laws properly address how companies track your location and other data you store in your phone?
Even erasing your browsing history may not be enough to prevent someone from seeing the websites you’ve visited on your smartphone. Many websites hand out cookies faster than the Girl Scouts, and those cookies remain on your phone even after you clear the history, leaving a trail of crumbs showing where you were browsing.
Documents You Create
If you use Google Docs and have your smartphone connected to Gmail, then someone looking at your phone could access those documents. While it’s convenient to have so many interconnected services through Google, it also creates a huge vulnerability if your phone falls into the wrong hands.
What concerns you the most about someone accessing information you have stored on your smartphone. Do you feel federal laws properly address how companies track your location and other data you store in your phone?
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