Valley View Online

Does Your Cell Phone Put You At Risk?

As cell phones and PDAs become more technologically advanced, attackers are finding newer ways to target victims. By using text messaging or email, an attacker could lure you to a malicious site or convince you to install malicious code on your portable device.

Almost all current cell phones have the ability to send and receive text messages and certainly smartphones such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices also offer the ability to connect to the internet. Although these are features that you might find useful and convenient, attackers may try to take advantage of them. As a result, an attacker may be able to accomplish the following:

• abuse your service – Most cell phone plans limit the number of text messages you can send and receive. If an attacker spams you with text messages, you may be charged additional fees. An attacker may also be able to infect your phone or PDA with malicious code that will allow them to use your service.

• lure you to a malicious web site – While PDAs and cell phones that give you access to email are targets for standard phishing attacks, attackers are now sending text messages to cell phones. These messages, supposedly from a legitimate company, may try to convince you to visit a malicious site by claiming that there is a problem with your account or stating that you have been subscribed to a service. Once you visit the site, you may be lured into providing personal information or downloading a malicious file.
• use your cell phone or PDA in an attack – Attackers who can gain control of your service may use your cell phone or PDA to attack others. Not only does this hide the real attacker’s identity, it allows the attacker to increase the number of targets.
• gain access to account information – In some areas, cell phones are becoming capable of performing certain transactions (from paying for parking or groceries to conducting larger financial transactions). An attacker who can gain access to a phone that is used for these types of transactions may be able to discover your account information and use or sell it.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

• Take the same precautions to secure your cell phone and PDA as you would to secure your computer.
• Be careful about posting your cell phone number and email address. Attackers often use software that browses web sites for email addresses and then use those for spamming other users in your name.
• Do not blindly follow links sent in email or text messages. If you don’t know who the email is from then don’t trust it. While the links may appear to be legitimate, they may actually direct you to a malicious web site.
• Be wary of downloadable software. There are many sites that offer games and other software you can download onto your cell phone or PDA. This software could include malicious code.If you do download a file from a web site, consider saving it to your computer and manually scanning it for viruses before opening it.
• Evaluate your security settings – Make sure that you take advantage of the security features offered on your device. Attackers may take advantage of Bluetooth connections to access or download information on your device. Disable Bluetooth when you are not using it to avoid unauthorized access.

The idea is not to be paranoid but to be vigilant. If you’re already following these tips for regular email and Web sites on your home PC, then none of these things will come as a surprise. Your vigilance will carry over to your mobile computing.

However we’ve all heard horror stories from home PC users about viruses, spam, and uncontrollable pop-ups. These same malicious beasties are making their way into the mobile computing world. If you’ve ever had these problems on your home computer it makes it even more imperative that you become a smarter user of your cell phone or PDA.

Popularity: 65% [?]

Thin crust and crispy. Where did you go?

That’s what I’d like to know. For a long time, Don’s Pizza was the ad-hoc, de-facto standard in local pizzas.

If you were a student returning home for the holidays or an out-of-towner who had previously experienced the crispy deliciousness, you immediately dialed up Don’s on your first night back in town. It was the benchmark pizzas aspired to be.

Sadly, that era died a long time ago.

It seems that some years back with the appearance of fluffy crust Papa Johns and major turnovers in personnel, Don’s has forgot how to make that patented crisp, thin crust pizza.

I learned some time back that you have to ask for “Extra Crispy” if you want it to be close to the original Don’s masterpiece but even then it still hit or miss depending on how experienced the oven chef might be.

The closet thing to an original Don’s Pizza is Ron’s Pizza in Miamisburg. Odd that all it took was a change in the first letter of the name to open up a whole new world of pizza loving. Ron’s has been around for just as long but they know what it takes to produce Extra Crispy. If they only delivered this far outside the ‘Burg.

After several disappointments in 2008, I’ve said to myself that this was the last pizza I ordered from the Pizza Palace. Yet another Don’s craving would lead to frustration when I’d bite down into that doughy, limp crust.

2009 started out the same way. But I’ve decided that I’m not. My resolution this year is to abandon those establishments that spurn customer requests. Repeated opportunities to retain my business have gone unanswered for far too long.

I hate not spending my money locally. After all, a vibrant business community makes for a vibrant community. But if after repeatedly asking, you can’t get what you want locally, then it’s apparent you have to look elsewhere.

Laff’s found that out last May.

Popularity: 77% [?]