Your iPhone 4: Is it Safe?

 While the new features keep the iPhone at the forefront of technology, they also cause some privacy concerns.

One concern that carries over from previous iPhone models is the Always-on iPhone Apps that track your every move through the GPS navigation system. Back in April, Apple began allowing location-tracking applications to run in the background.  So, for example, companies like FourSquare, Yelp, and Facebook can continuously track your location, providing automatic notifications  to your friends when you are less than 1/2 mile away from them, if you allow them.

For example, I just had a highly confidential client meeting at the client’s corporate headquarters. To the  uninitiated, that means that the company I was visiting is probably having data theft issues (and has brought me in to help). If the media finds out that they are having these issues before the company has had a chance to start the damage control process, their stock will drop far faster than if they have prepared for the news to go public. If Facebook or FourSquare is broadcasting my whereabouts, my followers already know which company is having the problem, their competitors know it (if they are following my GPS broadcasts), and the media sits and waits for me to enter the building. Luckily, I’m not well-know enough for anyone to care, but just in case, I don’t broadcast my whereabouts. Other, far more influential people, do so without thinking twice about it. Which goes to show you that there are ways to utilize all of the cool new technology without letting it control you. With the right knowledge, you can take control of how your information is utilized. 

Apple does realize the privacy concerns with location tracking and gives users a way to control how much information is shared.  When you open an app, the top bar will show a little arrow in the right-hand corner, indicating location awareness (pictured to the right). There will also be a dashboard where you can toggle location-tracking permissions on and off for different apps. Regardless, this means that more companies will have access you your location than before. I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking through the negative implications of location tracking, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be aware that it is going on in the background so that we can make decisions from a position of power.

High-definition video is a second tool that will be used by data spies. What could be easier than for an identity thief to pretend they are on the phone as they are actually filming you typing in your ATM PIN in front of them? Why does iPhone 4 change the game? Because Hi-definition means that they can stand further away and still get high quality video with which to read your data. A simple sweep of an office desk, a client file, etc. with high definition video gives me all of the documents I need to learn more about your company. Think of it as a spy camera that provides thousands of pictures a minute and is hidden as the most ubiquitous device on the planet – a cell phone. Powerful tool both for good and bad.

About the author:  To further bulletproof yourself and your business, visit John‘s blog at www.Sileo.com. To book John at your next event, visit www.ThinkLikeaSpy.com. John Sileo became America’s leading Identity Theft Speaker & Expert after he lost his business and more than $300,000 to identity theft and data breach. His clients include the Department of Defense, Pfizer and the FDIC.