Mobile Apps Turn Smartphone Into Weapon
You and I have come to think of our Smartphones as indispensable tools. Flaws recently discovered in mobile apps for Facebook, Linkedin and Dropbox could turn our tools into weapons by exposing us to data theft at many levels, including personal identity theft and corporate data loss.
Taking extra precautions now will protect not only your Smartphone but other devices, too, as the flaw may well be present in other mobile applications including many iOS games.
Apparently, Facebook’s iOS and Android apps don’t encrypt their users’ login credentials. These flaws expose users to identity theft by saving user authentication keys (usernames and passwords) in easily accessible, plain text files. These unencrypted files may be stolen, transferred to another device in a matter of minutes, and used to access the victim’s accounts without ever having to enter any user login credentials.
We can be as patriotic as we want to be, but today, the US lags behind other countries in credit card technology and consumer safety. Our current-day magnetic-strip technology is archaic compared to the chip-embedded cards of our European counterparts. Though some larger US retailers are offering support of the “smart-chip” cards, a mandate for their use (and greater protection for the consumer) is down the road. (Click here for the 
