Before you dismiss this as a line from a Bond or Sci-fi movie, it’s actually happening here in real life.

Kelvin Mahaffey, CTO, at mobile security company Lookout discussed the threat to mobile phone users on Bloomberg. He emphasized the danger that arises from downloading “bad apps” from untrusted sources.

These apps take control of your phone and all the data you store on there. Even worse, it can take your phone hostage, figuratively kidnap your phone and hold it for ransom. Lookout are serving sixty million android users across the world and 7% of their users in the US have some sort of malware on their phones. The kidnappers then charge you $700 to release your phone .

Keeping your property safe often comes down to common sense, and your smartphone is no different than your PC or home. Taking basic precautions will go a long way toward saving you time and money.

Some simple, and effective advice: use a pin or password and never download apps from untrusted sources.

Copyright 2015 John McGlinchey.  All Rights Reserved.