Are Smartphones Secure

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GPS location, is a feature that is available in every Smartphone. Most part of the people do not even use it, or do not even be aware of its existence. The majority of the population tend to just see the good side of each application and features, however that are some negative facts about the GPS that are going to change people's mind. It is know that nowadays it is possible to attach a transponder to vehicles to avoid theft and some similar situations, however people never think that Smartphones have GPS incorporated. Unfortunately, that is a fact that brings a lot of advantages when using a GPS to find the route to go somewhere, but at the same time it also shares people's personal information. GPS is a powerful tool that finds out your location through satellites, but also shares it with a provider. Nowadays, the government has the ability to use people's GPS information. According to Eric Samuel Heidel, " The government now regularly gathers information from individuals’ Smartphones...While there are legitimate purposes for this disclosure without the consent of the Smartphone user, there are many instances were no emergency situation exists and no search warrant is even sought. "(1). Hereupon, it is clear that GPS is not necessarily a good tool when not used wisely, and this supports the fact that Smartphones are not safe at all if not used in the right way. Even more important is the fact that users can do nothing about this issue, this is not a case with resolution like the password creation topic. This is a issue that does not rely in the customer choice, it is something that is this way and cannot be changed. The only solution is the choice of using GPS or not. Other thing to have in consideration when talking about Smartphones and security, are the malicious programs that affect this type of devices.

Generally most part of the applications that people download in Smartphones bring malicious files attached to them, additionally there are malicious programs that instantly affects one's device when accessing some websites. Malicious programs are developed with a variety of purposes, as identity theft, device crash or simply with the purpose of ruin people's devices. There are experts that spend hours working on those malicious programs in order to broke your phone and make one by a new one. Many discuss that companies as Apple, Samsung, Windows, etc, have people creating this programs so the population is obligated to by new devices and that increases these companies profit. Considering this, it is really important to be aware of what Smartphone users have to deal with. According to Pu Wang et al, the creation of the internet is the main responsible for the existence of this type of malicious programs. (383) People really need to be careful when using their Smartphones, because malicious programs often get in the devices without people noticing it. Pu Wang et all, also state that "Mobile-phone viruses can steal user’s private information [9,14], drain handset’s battery...They can infect a large number of mobile phones in stealth mode and later make these infected phones perform some simple malicious functions, such as sending short text messages to get the communication channels jammed "(384). This is a feature that people not even think about but that is extremely important due to the frequency that people use Smartphones.

Smartphones security is a topic that should be brought to the table more often, because it is a real issue in everyday society. People of all ages use Smartphones in a daily basis and think that these are harmless. However, as explained, there are a variety of dangers that can be avoided. Principally children must be educated in a way that they grow knowing what is right and wrong about Smartphones and what can they do to protect themselves to be a easy target. If youths are instructed since they start using Smartphones, they will not be in danger later on. Smartphones are an useful everyday device, however it is clear that they are not safe for anybody. In this way it is important to start educating people in this way.

Works Cited

Genuth, Iddo, "Let Your Body Be Your Key."Engineering & TechnologyFebruary. 2015 : p34-37

Heidel, Eric Samuel. "Warrantless GPS Tracking: Who cares about vehicle transponders – what about your cell phone?" Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology, January. 2013

Jones, Beth,Amita Chin, Peter Aiken. "Riskybusiness: Students and smartphones." TechTrends. Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning. November.2014 : p73-83

Wang, Pu, MartaGonzález, RonaldoMenezes, Albert-LászlóBarabási. "Understanding the spread of malicious mobile-phone programs and their damage potential." International Journal of Information SecurityOctober.2013: p383-392