Today I wanted to express something that has been of interest this month since I lost my blackberry curve on the train. That is correct? you heard right? I lost my phone. . . and guess what? A generous and kind young new yorker who assists the world by working with an organization to develop housing and programs for the homeless emailed me and returned my phone immediately. Yes I was certainly lucky he was so thoughtful and kind.
I was also fortunate because I was able to get his emails and his calls through my new phone which was an Iphone replacement. Anyway my point in saying all this about phones is. Phones come and go and they are only getting cooler and more a part of our personal lives. What happens when we lose these phones or they get into the wrong hands? Does our personal lives go with it? Usually that is the case. So this post is dedicated to helping you and your loved ones stay safe in these technological times where anything can happen and anyone can find you via Twitter, GPS, Google, Email, Phones, and the of course the internet in general.
So first up lets just take a second to imagine a scenerio:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="479" caption="Recover my iphone please :("]
[/caption]
What if you were in a movie, football game, spa or occupied by time relaxing and enjoying life when your car gets broken into. They thief sees the GPS on your dashboard and easily back tracks to locate your home. Your garage keys are in your glove compartment with one of those automatic doors and the thief drives up to your home and enjoys your home and everything in it. Then he sees what he likes packs it away safetly into a nice truck and moves on. Could this happen to you or someone you know?
Well you might be devastated by hearing of such a thing but these things do happen to innocent people? eh hem I recently lost my cell phone on the train in Brooklyn, where anything and anyone could have had access to my personal information.
How about we take a look at another scenerio:
You may not be absent minded or forgetful like me. What about you having your handbag stolen at a local bar, or on the train, or in a department store or wherever and your bag contained your cellphone, wallet and credit cards. You panic and search around for it. Then you call your husband or wife from a pay phone and tell them the situation. Your spouse says "NO worries, I got your text earlier so you already told me what happened. I sent your pin number right away so you could get the money honey. . ."
Holy! you run to the bank and tell the staff what happened. But they tell you "your money has already been withdrawn" You are wiped clean all because the thief got a hold of your pin number by using your cell phone and pretending to be you with your identity for a brief moment in time.
You might think this cannot happen to you or someone you know but can it? Do people confirm that text's come from those who send them before responding especially in emergency situations.
So now I would like to give some tips that I have gained:
*Never disclose the relationship you have with your contacts in your cell phone (honey, hubby, sweetheart, dad, mom etc)
*When sensitive info is being asked through text messages CONFIRM by calling back
*When friends or family text in order to meet them somewhere call back to confirm the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be careful abuot going places to meet family and friends who text you.
(when I lost my cell phone I met my new friend who found the phone in an area I was not familiar with underneath a beautiful full moon. It was a magical friendly moment of good karma and grace. This isn't always the case!)
*Lastly do not have the contact home listed in your cell phone.
Here are some technological advances you can use to track your phone on GPS or online. (if google can follow us why can't we follow our personal items?)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="479" caption="My phone is stolen"]
[/caption]
This Navizon application attempts to determine the location three times before a failure SMS Navizon_iphone_recovermessage is sent.Navizon also includes GPS location tracking option that even allows all users to track their friends and family members phones.
Eraca Sadun has released the first beta version of a freeware anti-theft application for Apple iPhone called iPhone FindMe. Findme is a command-line utility that returns the location of the cell phone tower nearest to your iPhone. When run, the utility tells you the GSM tower’s cell id as well as its latitude and longitude with the help of Google Maps, your email, and twitter.
Lastly for you iphone owners. In the general settings you can set up your phone to add an extra security code and be locked so that if someone picks up your phone they will have to type in numbers that you remember and they don't. If they try over a number of times your phone will completely wipe itself free of data and so on. Talk about spy technology :) Check out more about that simple feature by searching for lost iphone
Hope this information finds itself useful to you and yours in assisting your security while using today's modern technology. Please pass it on and write a comment below. Peace and love.
I was also fortunate because I was able to get his emails and his calls through my new phone which was an Iphone replacement. Anyway my point in saying all this about phones is. Phones come and go and they are only getting cooler and more a part of our personal lives. What happens when we lose these phones or they get into the wrong hands? Does our personal lives go with it? Usually that is the case. So this post is dedicated to helping you and your loved ones stay safe in these technological times where anything can happen and anyone can find you via Twitter, GPS, Google, Email, Phones, and the of course the internet in general.
So first up lets just take a second to imagine a scenerio:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="479" caption="Recover my iphone please :("]
[/caption]What if you were in a movie, football game, spa or occupied by time relaxing and enjoying life when your car gets broken into. They thief sees the GPS on your dashboard and easily back tracks to locate your home. Your garage keys are in your glove compartment with one of those automatic doors and the thief drives up to your home and enjoys your home and everything in it. Then he sees what he likes packs it away safetly into a nice truck and moves on. Could this happen to you or someone you know?
Well you might be devastated by hearing of such a thing but these things do happen to innocent people? eh hem I recently lost my cell phone on the train in Brooklyn, where anything and anyone could have had access to my personal information.
How about we take a look at another scenerio:
You may not be absent minded or forgetful like me. What about you having your handbag stolen at a local bar, or on the train, or in a department store or wherever and your bag contained your cellphone, wallet and credit cards. You panic and search around for it. Then you call your husband or wife from a pay phone and tell them the situation. Your spouse says "NO worries, I got your text earlier so you already told me what happened. I sent your pin number right away so you could get the money honey. . ."
Holy! you run to the bank and tell the staff what happened. But they tell you "your money has already been withdrawn" You are wiped clean all because the thief got a hold of your pin number by using your cell phone and pretending to be you with your identity for a brief moment in time.
You might think this cannot happen to you or someone you know but can it? Do people confirm that text's come from those who send them before responding especially in emergency situations.
So now I would like to give some tips that I have gained:
*Never disclose the relationship you have with your contacts in your cell phone (honey, hubby, sweetheart, dad, mom etc)
*When sensitive info is being asked through text messages CONFIRM by calling back
*When friends or family text in order to meet them somewhere call back to confirm the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be careful abuot going places to meet family and friends who text you.
(when I lost my cell phone I met my new friend who found the phone in an area I was not familiar with underneath a beautiful full moon. It was a magical friendly moment of good karma and grace. This isn't always the case!)
*Lastly do not have the contact home listed in your cell phone.
Here are some technological advances you can use to track your phone on GPS or online. (if google can follow us why can't we follow our personal items?)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="479" caption="My phone is stolen"]
[/caption]This Navizon application attempts to determine the location three times before a failure SMS Navizon_iphone_recovermessage is sent.Navizon also includes GPS location tracking option that even allows all users to track their friends and family members phones.
Eraca Sadun has released the first beta version of a freeware anti-theft application for Apple iPhone called iPhone FindMe. Findme is a command-line utility that returns the location of the cell phone tower nearest to your iPhone. When run, the utility tells you the GSM tower’s cell id as well as its latitude and longitude with the help of Google Maps, your email, and twitter.
Lastly for you iphone owners. In the general settings you can set up your phone to add an extra security code and be locked so that if someone picks up your phone they will have to type in numbers that you remember and they don't. If they try over a number of times your phone will completely wipe itself free of data and so on. Talk about spy technology :) Check out more about that simple feature by searching for lost iphone
Hope this information finds itself useful to you and yours in assisting your security while using today's modern technology. Please pass it on and write a comment below. Peace and love.
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