In recognition of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, Tufts University Information Technology (UIT) has made a recent push for awareness about the security risks associated with mobile technology. On campus, Blackberries and iPhones abound, and as UIT Director of Communications and Organizational Effectiveness Dawn Irish told the Daily, "students … now use mobile technologies far more than their desktops."
Here's what the campus had to say about keeping the information on their mobile phones away from prying eyes.
"My email is the only thing I worry about; I don't know if that's wrong. I have no valuable information except for credit cards. I have no secrets, so..."
—Alex Wais, sophomore
"I do open links. I don't really think of it as unsafe, but then again nothing really seems safe, so this is just as bad."
—Jessie Partridge, first-year graduate student of urban and environmental policy and planning
"I personally think that I have a lot more personal information on my phone than on my computer, so I think that if someone were to get a hold of my phone, there would be more on there. I feel like people who are businessmen in actual jobs would have a lot more personal information on their computers, but I know that I personally don't open links on my phone. I do that on my computer."
—Sonya Bakshi, sophomore
"I tend to be more worried about my computer, primarily because there is more on there that I would stand to lose if something hacked [it]. I don't think of my phone as having that kind of capability to open junk stuff."
—Rachael Jackson, sophomore
"I don't really have a smart phone anymore, but when I did, I used to check my bank account on it. I don't really worry about my computer security nearly as much as I should. All of my passwords are definitely the same for everything, which is really bad."
—Alexis King, senior
"I'm definitely worried about safety, because you never know what's in those links. You might get viruses or something that can damage your hardware, so I'm definitely concerned."
—Mark Bernardo, freshman
"I click fewer links on my phone because I think that someone else will pick up my phone and see my history."
—Alexis Donnaruma, junior
