Smartphone Security Blankets
Security—for the information on your smartphone, as well as for the phone itself—is a hot topic these days. The truth is that you’re packing a lot of sensitive information on your phone, and you should keep it safe.
When it comes to physical security, iPhone users would do well to download Find My iPhone, a free app (application program) from Apple that allows you to visit a website and see your (lost, stolen or misplaced) phone on a map. You can then sound an alarm, send a message that will pop up on its screen, lock the phone or erase all your data.
Android does not have an exact equivalent, but there are plenty of alternatives. A free app called Lookout offers the find-my-phone feature. The paid version allows you to wipe the data from your phone remotely.
Then there is your coffee shop’s WiFi network. Anyone with minimal technical expert skill can snoop on（窥视）people using shared wireless networks, harvesting passwords and other personal data. Lookout’s apps will caution you when you’ve logged on to an unsecure network, but cannot protect you once you’re there.
In order to protect yourself on such networks, you can use a virtual private network, or V.P.N. This turns all your activity into nonsense to anyone trying to read along with you from across the Starbucks. It also keeps websites from tracking you and, if you’re traveling, allows you to get access to sites that may be blocked in other countries.
If you have an iPhone, the simplest V.P.N. app is probably Hotspot Shield, whose distinguishing feature is said to be that it automatically kicks in each time you start browsing (浏览), as opposed to other V.P.N. apps that require you to start them up manually. This matters, because even if you decide you want a V.P.N. app, you want to spend approximately zero time thinking about it. For the most part, that was true of Hotspot Shield, though occasionally it took a while to connect or temporarily lost connection without warning. I found myself having to turn the app on and off sometimes, which involved setting my phone constantly.
If even reading about the settings on your phone drives you crazy, then it is probably best to stay away from a V.P.N. app. But if you’re the type who can’t resist checking your bank balance from your corner bar, the hassle may be preferable to the risk.
64. Which of the following can warn you against the unsecure network?
A. Android. B. V.P.N. C. Lookout. D. Find My iPhone.
65. By using V.P.N., users can _______.
A. find their lost phone on the Internet
B. erase all the data from the phone remotely
C. check their bank balance now and then
D. save their browsing from being tracked
66. The underlined word “that” in Para. 6 refers to the fact that _____.
A. a V.P.N. app kicks in automatically
B. the user starts V.P.N. apps manually
C. the app takes a while to connect
D. users spend no time thinking about it