How to secure your cell phone

Cell phones have made it easier for you to do just about everything you need to do: read emails, surf the Net, and safeguard your passwords. Today, you also can pay bills online, transfer funds, and shop from your phone—valuable information is passing through wireless networks. Unfortunately, as it gets easier for you to use your phone as an everyday tool for living, it's also easier for hackers and identity thieves to get everything they need to invade your privacy, take your money, and destroy your credit.

Here are a few things you can do to secure your cell phone:

Voicemail

The more layers of defense you set up, the better. Consider how often you have had important personal information left on your voicemail (and how many times have you left important details on someone else's voicemail)—information like lab results, financial details, credit card numbers, or your birth date or social security number, to name a few. Hackers can break into your voicemail. To protect yourself, set up a password for retrieving voicemail and be careful about the details you leave on someone else's voicemail.

Personal details

Be aware of the personal identification numbers (PINs), account information, or passwords you have stored in your phone. Not only can hackers hack your cell phone, but what happens if you lose this receptacle of valuable information? Consider using the password protected safety feature on your phone to keep these precious details away from greedy hands.

The whole phone

Most cell phones have password protection capability. Check in the set up function where you'll find that your password protection option is probably disabled; activating it and then choosing a password will protect the entire phone in case it's lost or stolen.

Cell phone account

Not only should you protect your phone, you also should protect your cell phone account. Using a PIN to authorize any changes to your cell phone service makes it harder for others to gain access and make any unauthorized changes.

Beware what you download

The same goes for downloading to your phone as it does to your computer; before you buy (and download) be sure you're buying from a trusted source. Some of those cool applications you're putting on your phone may be the latest version of the Trojan horse—sneaking in under cover and accessing important information, such as location and contact details.

More ways to protect your identity

• What makes shopping online unsafe?
• 6 Online shopping habits to avoid
• 10 Signs that you may be a victim of identity theft