by Vic Ryan Agot

Created on: September 21, 2009

With all the beans being spilt on national television every night on matters pertaining to the personal lives of celebrities and politicians: who this famous popstar is currently dating, which state representative is trading his wife for whom, whose crappy sitcom got scrapped? And the list could go on forever. One can't help but wonder how these dirty laundries came into display. Mostly, some of these secrets are unearthed from a basic method to digital intrusion: from overheard conversation, from hacked hard drive information or commonly and from stolen smartphone. Don't get me wrong, I don't conform to whatever dirty secrets people are hiding but I believe in the essence of personal privacy. With the phone being our digital confidante these days, it is but apt to protect your phone information, may it be your calendar appointments or confidential corporate emails.

So how does the Palm Pre fare in terms of data security? Well there are three areas where the Pre, as well as other smartphones, can be vulnerable to security attacks. The operating system is a major concern for security threats. But let's face it, the WebOS is coded from the open-source Linux operating system. Being open-source is not at all bad. Because the operating system is accessible to all, bugs are easily known and eventually patched close to real time as opposed to more 'restricted' Windows-based operating systems which satisfy the appetite of hackers and intruders who are always on the lookout for scoops to feed the headlines of tabloids the next day.

Another area is the medium of data transmission. Everybody knows that connecting to a public hotspot or network exposes you to endless privacy threats. It supports both WEP and WPA encryptions as added security measure in keeping your data away from unwanted external access. Data sent over WiFi can still be sniffed but with applied encryption, the data cannot be readily understood by others. The impenetrable way of sending data using the Palm Pre is through the carrier's EVDO network.

The last area where data can be breached is through the phone itself. With the WebOS update 1.1, the Pre has been able to support corporate security policies. If the phone is left idle or invalid access attempts are made, the phone locks automatically. In the event that the Pre is stolen, the user can initiate a remote wipe to erase some confidential data from being breached. Once the replacement phone arrives, the user can just key in his old Palm Profile to access his precious data.

All in all, data security is up to the user's common sense. No matter how secure, 'shoulder surfers' will always be lurking at your side while you clumsily key in your password. You know the sensitivity of the information that your are saving in your phone, whether it is trivial, important or extremely private. A big part of data security depends on your prudence and vigilance; the Pre and all other smartphones can only do so much.

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