Hackers are increasingly turning their attention to smart phone and if users are not protected, they could steal private information, security experts said.
"The hackers are beginning to see that the smart phones are easier to break into than computers now,” Rey Anzaldua said. “So you're starting to see a lot more hacking activity directed towards the mobile and smart phone arena."
Anzaldua is an assistant professor at the University of Phoenix in Mission.
He is finishing his doctoral dissertation on computer security, and also works for the U.S. Navy.
"Generally, people have not made the leap yet that their smart phone is really a smart computer," he added.
According to Anzaldua, all the apps and features in the smart phones open the way for third parties to steal user’s personal information.
As an investigator, he said he has averaged two calls a month from people looking to protect their smart phones, but that number could grow.
"As people migrate to that and use that as your primary computer, yeah I’m going to start getting a lot more calls," he admitted.
He offered advice for smart phone users; if you haven't thought about security, now is the time.
"Put an antivirus on their smart phone and they're available from all the major manufacturers and people that supply antivirus," he recommended. “If you use your smart phone for banking or as a modem, encryption is the way to go on that."
But his best advice for users is that if they don't want their information, like credit card numbers, stolen from the smart phone, then avoid using them on the phone.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT