Cell Phones – A New Attack Vector
I am a fan of used cell phones, they are great for travel overseas, cheaper, and do the trick (make and receive phone calls).
I read this the other day and it caught my eye. As cell phones become more advanced we business-types and teeny-boppers use our mobile to do all sorts of things.
Store phone numbers yes. But what about text messages, notes, documents…perhaps credit card number or other sensitive information?
I’m sure that many, many, people have texted their credit card numbers to family members.
“Hi honey, could you buy this with the AMEX? I’ll text you the number…”
A company, Trust Digital of McLean, Va., bought 10 phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for businesses. The phones all were fairly sophisticated models capable of working with corporate e-mail systems.
The phones contained:
*One company’s plans to win a multimillion-dollar federal transportation contract.
*E-mails about another firm’s $50,000 payment for a software license.
*Bank accounts and passwords.
*Details of prescriptions and receipts for one worker’s utility payments.
The recovered information was equal to 27,000 pages _ a stack of printouts 8 feet high.
From only 10 cell phones. Many phones do offer options that will completely destroy the information on cell phones. You’ll have to read you instruction manual to find out exactly how to do it.
