Phone Sales

Mike Foster, The Foster Institute asked:


When it comes to IT security, our computers aren’t the only thing vulnerable. Almost everyone these days has a cell phone, and a cell phone can be hacked too.

One way to infect someone’s cell phone is with a malicious program called FlexiSPY. Here’s how it works. Let’s say that Dave, our company president, wants to follow up a little bit on one of his senior managers, Greg, and find out what he’s up to. Dave would simple go to Greg sometime and say, “Greg, do you mind if I borrow your mobile phone? Mine’s not working and I want to check in with my family.” And Greg says, “Sure, no problem.”

So Dave takes his phone. Now Dave has already been to FlexiSPY, and they’ve already given him the instructions of how to infect Greg’s phone with a little virus by simply visiting a web site URL. So Dave does that. He acts like he’s dialing the number, and then just to make it look good, he says into the phone, “Yeah, hi. I was just checking in. Is everything okay? Oh yeah, Greg loaned me his phone. He’s a great guy. Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” Then Dave hands Greg his phone back.

Meanwhile, Greg thinks everything is just dandy. He loaned his boss his phone and he’s a good guy. But now, any phone calls that Greg places or receives, Dave is going to get a report of who the other party is, what their phone number is, and how long they were on the phone. All that information is available to Dave for just $49.95.

Now, if Dave decided to splurge and spend $149.95, he can remotely activate the microphone on Greg’s phone and actually listen in on Greg’s activities any time Greg’s phone is turned on. So if Greg is at home tonight with his family, Dave could listen to their conversation at the dinner table. If Greg is in a closed meeting, Dave could listen to the closed meeting. Essentially, Dave could hear anything going on in Greg’s life, as long as his phone is turned on.

The CIA knows what a serious danger this technology is. In fact, the CIA is very concerned that this spying technology might get on the cell phones of some of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court or other high-ranking government officials. If that were to happen, it would really undermine the security of the United States of America.

Therefore, never hand your phone to anyone. If someone asks me to borrow my cell phone, I say, “Sure. But I’m going to dial your number, and I’m going to stand two inches from your face the entire time you have the conversation.”

At that, the person who asked to borrow my cell phone usually replies, “Never mind.”

If you have recently handed someone your cell phone to use and are wondering if some sort of spying device is on your phone, you could have your IT professional examine the phone. Or, if your phone is getting out of date anyway, now might be a good time to trade in your phone for a new one. You can keep the same phone number, since the virus affects the phone itself and not the phone number.

If you ever look at your phone and see the screen says that the phone is “connected” or “in use” when you didn’t place a call or answer a call, then this may indicate that you have some sort of phone spyware on it. Unfortunately, most people don’t look at their phone when they’re not using it. They just leave it in their belt clip, purse, pocket, in a desk drawer, or on a table.

You would also see tell-tale signs of someone spying on your calls on your phone bill. But not everyone examines their bill, and some people never even see their bills if they use a bookkeeper to mind their finances.

If you have the right tools, you can figure out if something was loaded onto your phone. One company called Trust Digital makes a very nice central management tool to audit, manage, and protect all of your phones and PDA’s in the enterprise.

A common theme you will notice in this book for protecting your network is the concept of “Central Management.” What’s that? Well, ask any IT professional, and they’ll tell you that one of the worst things in our career is when we have to change something on all the company’s computers. It doesn’t matter if you have five computers, fifty computers, five hundred computers, or more, that’s way too much work to visit each computer, phone, or PDA, individually. We want to be able to manage things centrally.

Today’s organizations have PDAs, cell phones, Blackberries, etc. All of these devices also hold sensitive data. So what happens when one of your employees is traveling for business and accidentally leaves his mobile phone or PDA in a taxi? If you had a central management system in place, that employee would simply call the IT department and tell them what happened. Then someone in IT can make a few keystrokes on the keyboard and erase everything in that particular phone or PDA.

Now, everything on that phone gets securely erased. And when I say securely erased, that means inside that phone it’s writing ones and zeros on the data card to actually erase information. Even data forensics can’t get that data back anymore. It’s just gone.

In the event that whoever rides in the taxi next finds the phone and somehow returns it to you, your IT department can make a few more keystrokes on the keyboard and restore all the data. That sure beats having to go through a four-hour process of reloading everything.

So don’t overlook your cell phone and PDA when it comes to data security. There are tools out there that will help you-use them.

Action Item: Treat your cell phone like you treat your toothbrush. Never let anyone use it.



NORRIS

Daniel Smith asked:


If you visit a local mass merchandising retail giant, there are going to be multiple cell phone shopping opportunities available for public review. These cell phone shopping opportunities are displayed under glass in display cases, attached by cords to display case countertops, or can be found hanging on display racks in the center aisle of the store.

In a 40 square foot radius, a consumer might be subject to more than 100 cell phone shopping opportunities in a retail store. Customers like to be able to touch and feel the quality of several cell phone cases at one time. They also like to compare all of the different features that are listed on model presentation pages that are printed on hard plastic and firmly mounted to glass display cases.

All of these cell phone shopping opportunities are meant to draw the customer’s attention to the cell phone products in the stores. These sale tools are offered free of charge to retailers in most cases and are meant to help educate sales staff in selling their products. With so many cell phone shopping opportunities available, retail merchants need to have several salespeople who are knowledgeable in cell phone usage, capabilities and rate plans.

There are cell phone dealer locations that provide many cell phone shopping opportunities to, but are focused on one specific dealer. Each national phone manufacturer has their own way of doing business. Some offer dealer locations that provide cell phone shopping opportunities at all hours of the night, and some cell phone shopping opportunities can be found on corner sale sites in the middle of shopping mall hallways.

In addition to cell phone shopping opportunities that are included in buying guides that you will find on internet shopping links located on ads placed on homepages, consumers will also be afforded links to many other websites that sell comparable cell phones and accessories that the consumer might be interested in reviewing prior to purchasing a new cell phone.

On any website that sells cell phones, consumers have many cell phone shopping opportunities, that provide picture, features, rate plans, model variations and rebates and other incentives that make shopping and buying a cell phone a very pleasant experience.

There are helpful online assistants that can provide you with answers to any questions you have about a cell phone. This truly provides cell phone shopping opportunities that are very easy to commit to. Through careful questioning, consumers can find out many hidden benefits that are not normally listed on websites.

When cell phone shoppers talk to customer representatives at call centers throughout the country that work for a cell phone provider that they want to do business with, and identify features such as additional cell phone minute rates available in packages that meet a specified price range, or text messaging packages that will delight their child and save them precious minutes on their cell phone rate plan allotment, these normally hidden cell phone shopping opportunities will certainly give people more incentive to purchase a cell phone at a lower rate plan than they would normally need.



ETHAN

Cathy Peterson asked:


At any given time, you can log into the Internet and find cell phone shopping advertisements on your homepage. These cell phone shopping advertisements are presented in a manner that is fast, concise, and to the point. Sponsors have paid a lot of money to bring the cell phone shopping advertisements to your attention, and simply ask that you take the time to visit their dealer to see what discounts will be right for your family.

Through direct hyperlink advertising methods, consumers can access cell phone shopping advertisements with the click of their computer mouse button. This link will take you directly to a sponsored website, where many models of cell phones are offered. You might not be interested in purchasing a cell phone at that time, but curiosity take a hold on your and you visit the site to find out the latest rates being offered on cell phones.

Some of these cell phone models offered in these cell phone shopping advertisements might be for a personal digital assistant device that allows you to access your email at any location, and others are simple pay-as-you-go cell telephones, offered by many cell phone companies, that center around the needs of budget cell phone customers.

Some of the cell phone shopping advertisements are short lived, and are presented to the customer in the form of scripted, digital presentations that pop up on your screen just long enough to get the sales message across. The consumer has the opportunity to block these types of cell phone shopping advertisements by selecting pop up blocker filters on their web browser toolbar.

Other cell phone shopping advertisements might require some time to find, because they are hidden deep within the multiple categories of cell phone companies that offer cell phones for purchase under one retailer’s virtual storefront. When you do reach the right cell phone shopping advertisements, you may have lost interest and close the web page without reviewing the information.

Other cell phone shopping advertisements will provide cell phone customers with knowledge about how you can synchronize your cell phone to your laptop computer. This form of information might be more than any cell phone user needs because their phone plan does not support such an opportunity, or you do not own a laptop computer system to take advantage of such technological advances.

Other cell phone shopping advertisements stress the technology benefits offered through Bluetooth technologies that make the wireless features of your cell phone model seem outstanding and state-of-the-art. After looking at the information contained in these cell phone shopping advertisements, you have a better understanding that your cell phone is not capable of performing that function.

There are question and answering blogs on cell phone use that are included in cell phone shopping advertisements. These open forum discussions will bring simplicity of use, or product errors to the attention of the consumer, who may or may not be enticed to purchase the model of cell phone that is being advertised. All cell phones have different features, and if you are not trendy enough want a cell phone with a camera, then these questions are certainly not beneficial.



HUGO

Daniel Smith asked:


People tend to migrate toward any type of retail outlet mall location. The distance that the retail outlet location is insignificant when compared to the money that is saved by shopping with these discount driven merchants. There are a wide assortment of clothing outlets there that will save families big dollars in their family clothing budgets, but it is the cell phone shopping outlets that have the largest traffic, because the items they sell are so affordably priced.

These cell phone shopping outlets are not the typical retail establishment that is set up and maintained by any one cell phone provider. They are not there to provide people with a way to pay their cell phone bill, or provide repair services for cell phones that become inoperable. They are there, however, to provide you with the best possible cell phone shopping outlets shopping experience in your local area.

These cell phone shopping outlets contain cell phone products that are made by all of the cell phone manufacturers, not just one or two. The cell phones and accessories will cover every area of wall space that is available, and it is quite an over-whelming sight to experience. The vast array of color choices, phone styles and accessories available for every manufactured cell phone on the market is right before your eyes.

This wide selection of cell phones and accessories is made possible through the large quantities of cell phones that are purchased by these cell phone shopping outlets owners. This bulk lot ordering process offered by cell phone shopping outlets, allow them to offer extreme discounts on all cell phones that they have currently in stock. Their stock is quite amazing too, because they will have every cell phone that is being offered in any retailing outlet for miles around, at prices that will astound even the most knowledgeable of cell phone users.

The quality customer service offered at these cell phone shopping outlets is provide by friendly people who are very knowledgeable about the items they sell to the public on a day-to-day basis. The customer service representatives might ask you a question or two about what you will use the cell phone for. This information will give them the opportunity to show you all of the cell phones that you can choose to specifically meet your cell phone calling needs.

There are business travelers that would benefit greatly from the Internet email access capabilities and other features offered on cell phones found in these cell phone shopping outlets. This Internet feature will keep the files at their office within reach when stored in their email. This method will also keep cost down, because accessing the Internet with a personal digital assistant (PDA) will cost them an initial purchase price of at least that cost over $500 to get the same Web and file access.

The accessories are another aspect that customers enjoy at these cell phone shopping outlets. At any given time, a customer can walk in and select a new cover for their cell phone that will give it new life and new meaning. An old cell phone can be given to teenagers to use, and they can adorn it with up-to-date styles and colors with a few case changes. This saves the family on their communication budget money. The money they save from shopping at the cell phone shopping outlets could allow them to purchase games, ringtones and accessories that they would normally not consider because of the cost associated with them.



ARMAND