Using an ultra-secure smartphone is like ‘taking a step back into the 1990s’ — but some are doubling down amid waves of high-profile hacks

Using an ultra-secure smartphone is like ‘taking a step back into the 1990s’ — but some are doubling down amid waves of high-profile hacks

Business·2020-03-11 03:45

source

Crystal Cox/Business Insider; Samantha Lee/Business Insider

In recent months, high-profile individuals like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and ‘Shark Tank’ co-host Barbara Corcoran both fell victim to cyber attacks.

Specialized smartphones that offer heightened security do exist, but they require major compromises when it comes to the overall experience.

For example, they don’t offer popular apps made by companies like Google and don’t have advanced hardware features found on most modern smartphones.

Public figures are more likely to take other precautions, like using a burner phone while traveling, rather than trading their iPhone for an ultra-secure phone.

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Barbara Corcoran learned an important lesson last month when she almost lost nearly $400,000 because of an email phishing scheme. A scammer posed as her assistant and sent an email to her bookkeeper requesting $388,700 for a real estate renovation, as People and TMZ reported in late February.

The request seemed routine for Corcoran, the ABC “Shark Tank” judge and millionaire real estate mogul, since she often invests in projects like this. As such, she told People that she had “no reason to be suspicious” about the email.

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