mobile computing security...

Mobile phones, Laptops, Blackberries, Portable storage devices like USB devices all are seemingly indispensably to today’s constantly connected and information- savvy population. The general risks attendant upon today’s generation of mobile computing and telecommunication devices are similar to the other areas of IT protection and safety, but with the added dimension of being portable and thus steal able or even just losable. So, there are some security tips for mobile computing. They are as follows:

• Protect Mobile Devices with a PIN: If your mobile device is stolen or lost, it is still possible to prevent another person from accessing or using it by applying a PIN. A phone hacker will not take too long to gain entry, but assuming your device is found by any average citizen, most will be prevented from trying to, gain access to the services or data thereon.
• Keep your mobile device always in view and in reach: do not leave your mobile computing for a single moment when outside you are safe and secure area. It may only take one minute to collect your star bucks order from the counter, when ready, but it will take little over one second for an opportunist thief to relieve you of your equipment if it is left on your table.
• Destroy at-risk data or equipment: Not withstanding other security controls listed here it is possible to have security software installed on a mobile communication device or laptop that can erase all data upon it, once a loss has been reported to the enabling authority, it will be necessary for it to have been connected to the internet beforethis can be achieved.
• Encryption: If you have information on your mobile devices that could be considered sensitive information especially if that information relates to a third party, such as a client- very embarrassingly, ensure that it is encrypted using a strong commercially available solution.
• Laptop Tracking: Some commercial organizations provide a laptop security solution by installing tracking software upon it. The instant a thief, fence, or buyer of your stolen laptop connects to the internet, a covert and automatic communication details the location of the device to the monitoring organization who can then engage the appropriate authorities to retrieve the kit. Some of these systems deploy IP address identification, which identifies the internet location, while others use GPS for a geographical fix.
• Regular backups: If you lose a lot of data, more information you may well have emotions ranging from ‘oh well, C’estla vie’ to suicidal tendencies, depending upon how inconvenient it will be for you to recover it. That, in turn, will depend upon how careful you have been in ensuring that all your critical data/information has been copied over to backup storage. So, ensure you take regular backups and generations of important data and, if you do not have the original systems disks, also for your applications.

If you follow the above security tips you can compute your mobile with many threats.