mobilesecurity.com [San Francisco, CA] You will have noticed that this site is called mobilesecurity.com. Therefore, it seems obvious that we would cover all kinds of topics that relate to mobile devices and to keeping your data safe. You might think that means whenever someone discovers a new virus for mobile operating systems, we’re going to start screaming at you to spend some money on security solutions. You might also think that every time there’s a news story about Android malware, we’re going to start harping on about how the end of the world is coming.

In fact, that’s not the way we’re planning to do things around here. Instead, we’re going to focus on helping you understand what you can do to stay safe online with your mobile phones and tablets. There are parts of this site that will help you find out which apps are safer than others, and widgets that will tell you if some apps require more permissions than others – and we’ll encourage you to be vigilant when installing apps. There will also be articles on this site that talk about how the bad guys are discovering ingenious ways to get their malware on as many mobile devices as possible.

There’s been a recent spike in Android malware, and a good deal of discussion about it from security software developers recently. That’s fine. There’s a responsibility to keep customers informed of particular threats and trends, and of course the media loves a good scare story. At mobilesecurity.com we can hardly take the high road, as part of Symantec – developers of Norton – we help secure around 250,000,000 devices across the globe, and so we’re very well-placed to gauge the latest malware trends.

However, rather than only posting articles that focus on how malware is going to get you eventually, we’ll be pointing out a few other things to look out for when you’re going online on your mobile device. So, let’s take it from the very top. Every mobile device – iOS or Android; smartphone or tablet – has an option to set a level of security before allowing access. Most people use the 4-digit PIN code. Some use the pattern technique. Both offer a barrier to casual mischief-makers. However, did you know that you can actually set a much longer, more complex password for your device – which means that someone looking over your shoulder is far less likely to be able to remember how to get access to your device. It also means you can make it something memorable – and it won’t be either your birthday (mm/dd) or the same PIN that you use at the ATM every day.

Here’s a video of Mike Romo, contributor on mobilesecurity.com talking about how to set a more complex password on your mobile device. Stay tuned for more videos, tips and expert advice on how to avoid the terrifying dangers associated with getting online when you’re on-the-move.