Saturday 24 November 2012

Computer Security vs. Smartphone Security

By Allyson Westcot


Many business people won't go anywhere without their smartphones, and often have a number of apps on their device that require usernames and passwords. Unfortunately, a digital security firm has found that 3/4 of these apps don't encrypt data securely well enough, or at all, to protect these things adequately.

If you use your smartphone to login at any website, your password might be the only thing encrypted. If you're being monitored, your username can become public knowledge. That's one fewer things they have to guess before they can break into your program and cause problems. Passwords aren't even protected in some apps.. If your smartphone stores usernames, passwords or even credit card information, that data might be sitting there just waiting for the person with the know-how to steal it.

A rugged laptop, on the other hand, can be as secure as you need. You can generally purchase built-in security ranging from virus protection to things like biometric access. A good firewall, anti-virus protection and heavy encryption will probably enough security for most people.

LinkedIn is a business social site where people make networking contacts and list their business information. Unfortunately, along with sites and applications like WordPress and Skype, your login data isn't protected when you login with a smartphone. Yahoo Mail, Gmail and Netflix are also very popular online programs that don't keep your information safe enough when logged in through a phone.

Some users may also find that their banking information isn't that secure via phone. Facebook, Amazon, Twitter and other wildly popular sites also hold info insecurely if you access them through a phone. Why rely on a phone that has a slim change of protecting you when you could use a computer with lots of security? Using a computer is the best choice for logging into sites that you're not sure are secure.




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