Think you're necessarily free from being hacked because you use an Apple iPhone?
Think again.
Experts warn that overconfidence among iPhone users could be the very reason they become hacked in the not-so-distant future.
Though the technology giant is usually known for providing a more hacker-resistent environment than mobile phone rivals Android and Microsoft, that doesn't mean slip-ups aren't possible on the iPhone.
Rod Cambridge, a United Kingdom-based computer security expert and author of the book How NOT to Use Your Smartphone, recalled in November 2010, when security expert Charlie Miller created a stock-tracking app for Apple that was eventually approved and distributed for use on the App Store.
One problem: When running, the app was also able to access the phone's private data -- pictures and contact info -- in the background, and could send the info wherever the developer wanted.
Though Apple quickly pulled the app from its store, Cambridge said it was a teachable -- if not embarrassing -- moment for the company.
"Essentially, Charlie Miller highlighted the fact that, even with Apple's tight controls, it's still possible to get a malicious app into the App Store and onto people's iPhones," Cambridge said in an email interview. "So iPhone users still have to be vigilant."
Many concur, however, that the actions of a smartphone user far outweigh the actual phone they decide to use when security comes into play.
Androids, for example, use an open-source application process. Unlike Apple apps, Android applications do not have to be approved by the company before they're able to be downloaded by its users.
It's a risk-reward type scenario, according to Jonathan Blake Huer, director of emerging technologies and media development at Ball State University. He said while Apple apps are generally safer than Android apps, Android apps have the freedom to be more timely and groundbreaking.
"On the Android side, there is no check before things are put online," Huer said. "But it's also where a whole lot of new innovation can take place."
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