Last updated April 12, 2019
The hacking of used cell phones is a big news story at the moment with the unfolding scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s News International, and the unfolding drama has brought attention to the fact that cell phone hacking is becoming more and more common.
Shawn Toderick, who works as the coordinator for Forsythe Tech’s Information Systems Security Program, says that hackers find it easier to gain access to a used cell phone that they do a computer and that unless people take adequate precautions, almost anyone could hack into their phone and see their private voice and text messages and so on.
“I personally enjoy my privacy a great deal and having my information displayed on web sites or conversations or text messages by somebody I did not want them to be seen by, that would disturb me quite a bit,” Toderick notes. Toderick says that there are several things that people can do in order to try and protect against cell phone hackers.
For one, those who use their cell phones to access the internet should only visit secure websites which start with https. Secondly, the same security features that protect your computer should be utilized to also protect your cell phone, while it is also not advisable to try and download an application from any site other than the website belonging to your service provider. Lastly, ensure that the Wi-Fi network your cell phone is using is secured – if not, anyone else using that network could get to see your messages.