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Secure Your Smartphone and Tablet while on Holiday
17.07.2014
The Romanian Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) advises smartphone and tablet users travelling in the country and abroad to take some security measures for reducing the risk of theft or loss of these terminals and for preventing their unauthorised use.
First, the users should lock their SIM card by a complex PIN code and, moreover, set a password for unlocking the equipment. If a handset is not generally used to make telephone calls abroad, the owner can restrict international calls or calls to other destinations than Romania, when using the roaming service. Operators make available these services of barring certain call directions, cost-free. Â
Where a handset has been stolen, the user can avoid unwanted voice and data traffic by requesting his/her telephony provider to temporarily suspend the number as soon as possible. A new SIM card with the same number will be made available to the user, for free or for a charge, depending on each provider’s policy. Before leaving on holiday, the users should write down the telephone numbers on which they could call their telephony provider to announce such a theft. It is noteworthy that telecom operators can lock only the SIM card, not the actual smartphone or tablet, a separate complaint to the police station being required for the equipment recovery.
Furthermore, there are special applications for tracking a smartphone/tablet or for deleting data from the memory of an unrecoverable device, as well as applications enabling owners to make a safety copy of the contacts and data stored in the respective device.
Moreover, the users should avoid changing the security options configured by the manufacturer, as this could jeopardize the security of the smartphone/tablet, making them vulnerable to virus attacks. It is equally recommended that the users should install antivirus programs and download applications only from the online shops owned or recommended by manufacturers, in order to prevent various fraud attempts or situations where other people could acquire remote access to the smartphone and make calls, send SMS or download online content without the device owner’s being aware of that.
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