If you’re about to give mum a new smartphone, tablet or e-reader, give her peace of mind and protect it and her against Internet viruses and identity theft.

Melbourne, 3 May 2011 — AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, the distributor of the award-winning AVG anti-virus and Internet security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, advises families thinking of giving their mums a smartphone, tablet or e-reader for Mothers’ Day to also protect her from online threats as she starts using her exciting new gift.

Lloyd Borrett, Security Evangelist for AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, said: “With so much going on in their lives, all mums crave peace of mind so make sure you include that with your gift. The first thing everyone in the family should have front of mind is that these wonderful mobile devices are fully functional, Internet-connected computers. They should be treated as such and be fully protected with always-on anti-virus and Internet security software.”

Borrett cites the worrying figure of more than 80 per cent of people having password protection on their PCs, yet 80 per cent failing to password lock their iPhone, Blackberry and Android devices, or log out of social networking sites: “Mums should be warned that they are open to security risks if they leave their new toys constantly connected to the Internet. It’s simply too easy to unknowingly broadcast financial, account and other personal data, such as their exact location, while on the go.”

Make sure mum knows not to download from the amazing range of enticing free and low cost apps without doing the same due diligence she would if asked to pay $100 for a PC application download. So how do you pick trustworthy application stores and apps? Borrett advises you to research the app store first, plus learn what others have experienced using the app. It’s also a good idea to monitor helpful government sites such as SCAMwatch.

What the whole family possibly isn’t aware of is that the online security risks today are often more insidious than blatantly obvious. The bad guys are cleverly flying under the radar to deliberately remain undetected.

Many of the dangerous downloads behave as an innocent app, doing what they purport to do, but carry on theft and fraud in the background. One type of rogue app, called ‘dialerware’, can piggyback on smartphone accounts to access premium services. But they will typically only do this to the tune of a few dollars a month, so that you don’t notice the extra charges on your telephone account.

Also, when installing and running a new app, most mums don’t hesitate to click yes if it asks for additional permissions. They need to stop and think about just what information they may be letting the app access, and just why the app needs it.

If mum accidentally leaves her Android-based tablet or e-reader on the train, or her Android smartphone on the shop counter, free security software such as AVG Mobilation for Android mobile devices can be asked to trace it and wipe it clean.

As the Internet’s second most visited website, FaceBook is an obvious target for cyber criminals. Suitable privacy settings should be activated immediately when setting up a new profile to protect mums from exploitation by marketers and online identity fraud while swapping recipes or following kids on their overseas travels.

AVG (AU/NZ)’s recommendations for protecting mum and her new smartphone, tablet or e-reader are:

Treat it with the same level of current password, backup, anti-virus and security protection as you would a PC or laptop computer.

Check that the software you install provides protection for everything you do online including surfing, shopping, downloading, banking and social networking.

Only download mobile apps from researched, trustworthy sources.

Disable Wi-Fi auto-connect to prevent connecting to a malicious network.

Don’t click on links before authenticating the sender.

Set privacy settings for, and always log out of, social networking sites.

AVG (AU/NZ) has a comprehensive range of security tips on its web site at: http://www.avg.com.au/resources/security-tips/. For video tips from AVG (AU/NZ), see http://www.youtube.com/user/avgaunz.

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