SMARTPHONE SECURITY: BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR BLUETOOTH SETTINGS
Bluetooth offers great wireless convenience for your smartphone, allowing you to connect to your headphones, car stereo, wireless speaker, and other devices without dealing with a tangleof cords and wires. However, most of us aren’t careful enough when it comes to Bluetooth security.
As a general rule, you should turn Bluetooth off on your phone whenever you’re not connected to a device. Forgetting to turn it off will reduce your battery life because it continues to drain power even when there’s no device connected. But, there are even more serious concerns than that.
New hacker technologies, called “Blueborne” can scan for open Bluetooth connections and gain access to your device. Once a device has been hacked, it can then be used to gain access to additional devices. It’s not limited to one manufacturer either. Samsung, Google, Apple, and several car audio systems have all shown vulnerabilities.
So as a best practice, follow these two tips:
- Keep your phone updated. When Apple or Android releases an update, it’s not just for new operating system features—it also patches security issues.
- Make it a habit to turn off Bluetooth. As soon as you step out of your car or power down your headphones, you should turn off the Bluetooth on your phone. If nothing else, your battery will last a little longer.
About Windermere Real Estate
Southern California-based Windermere Homes & Estates is the fastest growing real estate brokerage in California in 2015, according to industry magazine First Tuesday Journal. In just over 5 years, co-owners Rich Johnson and Brian Gooding have opened 17 offices and have had over 550 agents join their team. Their newest achievement, 2016 Brokerage Achievement of Excellence, was awarded to them by the San Diego Association of Realtors® (SDAR). Windermere Homes & Estates was honored to be the first recipient of the new annual SDAR Award given for standard of ethics, commitment to compliance and high regards for running their business.
Windermere Real Estate is ranked the largest regional real estate company in the Western U.S. with over 300 offices and 7,000 agents serving communities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Mexico. Last year, Windermere closed over 86,000 sides for more than $31.7 billion in dollar volume. Windermere Real Estate was voted the most trusted brand west of the Mississippi by Lifestory Research®. The Windermere family has a proud heritage of serving our neighbors via the Windermere Foundation which funds services for low-income and homeless families. Since 1989, the Windermere Foundation has contributed more than 35 million dollars towards improving lives in the communities where we live and work. For more information, visit www.windermere.com.