How can I prevent my mobile phone from being hacked?

When you hear the word 'hacker' you imagine a computer
genius spending hours trying to crack a complex system. But when it comes to mobile phone hacking that is far from the truth.

Ten years ago mobile phones ‘helpfully’ came with default PINs for accessing voicemails (1234, 0000, 2222 etc). It was then your responsibility to change the default to something unique which a lot of people didn’t bother to do. A hacker could then call the mobile number when the phone was switched off or engaged, access themenu choices, enter the default PIN and they had access to the voicemails. Mobile phone operators have since stopped this practice and now users need to set up their own PINs.

Polices very from operator to operator however:

• Orange To access voicemail remotely a personalised PIN must have been setup by the user. 'Easy to guess PINs' that contain repeated numbers or consecutive numbers cannot be used.

• 3 PIN must be eight digits long. When first setting up a voicemail auser will be asked to choose a PIN. Remote voicemail access fromanother phone won't be possible until a unique PIN has been setup by the user.

• Vodafone to access voicemail messages using another phone a user will need to call a 'generic number' enter the number and then enter the pin.

• T-Mobile Dial mobile number and then press the Star (*) key to interrupt greeting. At the prompt enter the PIN.

Until all mobile phone networks ban remote access our advice to you is to set up a unique PIN, make it hard to guess and change it regularly.