Smartphones are extraordinarily expensive and way too easy to lose. Not to mention how they store some of our most sensitive information and data. Losing a smartphone is more than just losing a phone. It’s losing a fundamental way of communicating and sharing daily. It’s like losing a close friend or losing your voice. I know it sounds dramatic but it’s a testament to how much smartphones have entrenched themselves into our lives.

So it’s important that we keep our smartphones safe -inside and out. Protecting the information on our smartphones can be equated to protecting ourselves. In this article, we want to explore two of the most common ways of protecting your smartphone and why you should use them. The difference between anti-viruses and anti-spyware may seem arbitrary to some people. Although self-evident, some of the newest and brightest mobile anti-viruses contain anti phone tracking and spyware tools. With this article, I hope to illustrate the differences between the two, where they overlap and why you’d benefit from running them both.

 

What is Spyware?

Spyware is malicious software that is planted or downloaded onto your device. For what purpose? Well as the name implies, to spy on you. They do this by tracking your location, monitoring your messages and phone usage as well as scanning through the files on your phone or computer. Some spyware is actually used by companies to vet customers or extract marketing and political data from them. A lot of spyware programs use keyloggers to gain access to your usernames and passwords. Where viruses can ruin your mobile device, spyware can essentially ruin your life by leaking your most valuable information.

Is all spyware bad?

Not all spyware is built for malicious intent. You also have to remember that spyware is a broad term that includes phone tracking software. This means that there are possible benevolent uses of spyware and tracking software. For instance, it may be company policy to track your employees’ company phones so that they’re not being misused and valuable company time is not being wasted. We understand that this is still morally questionable as it may infringe upon their privacy but companies need to take steps to make sure that they protect themselves too.

Another possible use for benevolent spyware and phone tracking is through tracking your loved ones’ phones. Especially if they’re small children. If your child were to get lost, it would be easier to find them or trace their steps using a good phone tracker like Cocospy.

If you’re looking for a good phone tracker, Cocospy can help you with all your phone tracking needs. You can go to Cocospy’s website if you want to know more about it. It gives you in-depth tools to track a cell phone location as well as other comprehensive monitoring tools. Cocospy does not support or condone spying or monitoring with malicious intent. The owner of the device being tracked should give their consent before being monitored or tracked. Anything else is an infringement on their privacy and illegal in some countries.  Once again, you head on over to Cocospy Android Spy to read more on this as well as the application.

What is a virus?

Viruses are malicious pieces of software made to corrupt a computer system by deleting files or replicating themselves over a network or system in an attempt to cause the system to malfunction.

Viruses have been around way longer than most people think. The first virus to ever be created was the Creeper Virus back in 1971. Although the concept of viruses actually predates this. They weren’t known as viruses until 1983 when American computer scientist, Frederick B Cohen first officially coined the term. The first official documented removal of a virus was by Bernd Fix in 1987. We can’t say that Fix invented anti-virus software because around that time the Atari Corporation developed and released what would officially be the first anti-virus software for its computer line – the G Data antivirus.

What does an Anti-Virus do?

Anti-viruses scan your computer or mobile device using a set of signatures from their own personal database. Anti-viruses are not always 100% accurate. They use what can be equated to profiling and stereotyping to determine if something is suspicious software. Some applications may be completely harmless but because of the way they are named, they may be deemed as a suspicious. Mobile anti-viruses work in a similar fashion but are a lot less sophisticated than their PC counterparts. iOS security is tight and Android is based on a Linux kernel which makes it hard to create a good virus for it. However, if your phone is jailbroken or rooted, viruses may have an easier time finding their way onto your device. Either way, it’s important to have a good anti-virus.

If I have an anti-virus, do I need and anti-spyware too?

In most cases, a good anti-virus has spyware detection but it’s an unfortunate fact, that most of them aren’t very ineffective. They don’t check if you’re being tapped or monitored. Good phone tracking applications and spyware are near undetectable so you need something else with a bigger punch to help you.

For instance, Anti Spy Mobile Free for Android will pinpoint any shady spyware application for you. It will detect if anyone is monitoring or tapping your calls. It will also check if your text messages are being monitored by any apps on your phone.

Granted, anti-viruses come with a long list of features but we highly recommend that you combine the two and have a united front against the tyranny of mobile malware.

Final Word

As always, you have to be careful where you go and what you do in the information age. It’s way too easy to click on a shady banner while visiting a new site. Protect yourself at all times and don’t take any unnecessary risks. Your privacy and security are ultra-important. If you’ve found this article useful in any way, please share it with your friends and family. As always, thank you for reading.