"The headlines about smartphone hacks don’t pertain to me."

The topic of smartphone hacking isn’t likely to make it into Monday morning watercooler conversation. That is of course, unless you are a security professional and the very survival of your organization may hang on understanding it and protecting against it.

But, the truth is, unless you’re one of those rare individuals who have never connected your smartphone to a WiFi hotspot, downloaded an app, used your Bluetooth and you’ve managed to score 100% on avoiding social engineering schemes to trick you into providing access to your digital device, we think you should at least understand the basics. After all, with the continued proliferation of smartphones and the highly incentivized business of hacking phones, the appetite for stealing valuable information from smartphones will not let up any time soon.

According to recent study by Corus Research, 66% of people believe their phones have never been hacked. This raises the question as to what people consider a hack. It also raises the question as to what people know and how much those omnipresent headlines about smartphone vulnerabilities really resonate because, after all, there are few ways to detect what’s going on inside the device that probably never leaves your side.

So, we broke it down into a two-part video series, Smartphone Hacking: No one is safe. and Smartphone Hacking: What’s really at risk? Together, these videos provide a high-level view into the basics we believe everyone should know, especially if you discuss, share or have access to important and sensitive information. Here are the basics covered:

• Smartphones are inherently vulnerable.
• Hacking is a sophisticated and highly incentivized business.
• Smartphones can be compromised through hardware, software and social engineering.
• Data in Vicinity: Data collected in the presence of an electronic device

After watching, if you’d like to dig deeper, visit our content library for more information on smartphone hacking and mobile security solutions.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2017 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.