Mobile devices with Internet access are popular targets by cyber criminals. Once you get spyware or any other kind of malware onto your iPhone, usually from free iPhone downloads, it spreads to your computer when you download anything from your iPhone to your computer - or the other way around.
The Trojan Horse
One of the most famous myths in the world is the story of the Trojan War. The seemingly invincible city of Troy looked like it was going to survive an extremely long battle with Greece. One day, there was a monstrously large wooden horse sitting right outside the city walls. A horse was one of the symbols of Troy and considered a sign of favor from the goddess Athena. They took the massive wooden horse inside to offer to the Goddess Athena in thanks.
But inside the wooden horse were the best of Greece's soldiers. When everyone was asleep, they came out of the belly of the Trojan horse and ramsacked the city. This kind of thing can happen to you with free iPhone downloads. It looks like you have stumbled across a free gift like cool wallpaper or smiley faces or ringtones, but those seemingly innocent files contain malware (malicious software) that work for a cyber criminal.
Be Safety Conscious
Malware covers a wide variety of programs that negatively affect your computer or iPhone. They are known by various names like viruses, spyware, toolkits, keyloggers - or Trojan Horses. They do a wide variety of things to your computer and to your iPhone. You can tell if you have been infected by malware if your computer or iPhone behaves unpredictably or suddenly runs very slowly.
If that happens, you need to get computer software programs into your computer and your iPhone as soon as you can. Don't rely on just the security program your computer or iPhone came with. They are not up to date on all of the latest malware that could be imbedded in free iPhone downloads.
In summary, you should never open an email that's from an address you don't recognize. You need the latest version of a spam filter in order to filter out emails which might contain malware or a link to a website that will load malware onto your computer or iPhone. NEVER click on any links from pop-up ads that advertise free iPhone downloads.
For more reliable and practical information about iPhones, visit iPhone-Head.com.
