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CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

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Earlier, we looked at dropped and weak signals in terms of their impact on

battery life, power management, and running apps. Sometimes these signal

issues go unnoticed or are only a minor inconvenience. When it comes to

cellular signals, they can also be one of the few clues you’ll get that your

device is interacting with a spoofed cell tower.

If you or your users are in an area where the signal quality should be (and

usually is) excellent, be curious—especially if you have multiple reports of

difficulty. Check with the relevant cellular providers to see if they have any

known tower issues in the area. Fire up a cell tower analyzer and compare

nearby signals with what you’ve seen in the past, or with third-party

resources online.

If users are suddenly reporting that Wi-Fi quality is low in an area where it

was high, or you notice your device sees a network with a strong signal and

the correct SSID in what used to be a dead spot, check it out. There may be a

rogue WAP on the loose.

Unauthorized Data Access

Securing data stored on a mobile device is hard. The building’s security

guards might stop a courier from walking out with a desktop under his arm,

but they probably won’t notice an extra phone in his pocket. Even if they do,

he might just confidently claim he has to carry an extra phone for work and

go on his way. If I accidentally leave my phone behind at lunch, there’s a

chance I won’t notice until I head to my car that evening. Device locks and

remote wipe can usually prevent unauthorized users from accessing data on a

mobile device—as long as you wipe the device before it is compromised.

Data can leak out other ways, though, such as removable memory storage

cards, and settings in the device’s OS or applications. Removable memory

cards should be encrypted if they contain sensitive data, so an unauthorized

person can’t access data if they are removed from the device. Security and

privacy settings on the device can help protect personal data, and the same

settings can be configured in different apps that need to access personal data.

One of the more obvious risks to every networked app with access to data

is the possibility that it will leak some of that data (whether intentionally or

not). In some cases, it can be hard to figure out where the leak is. If an

attacker used tax returns you stuck in Dropbox to obtain a loan in your name,

where and when did the data go? You had local copies on your phone, laptop,

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