Your Cell Phone Is 10 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat. Here's What to Do About It

Most people don’t give a second thought to using their cell phone everywhere, from their morning commute to the dinner table to the doctor’s office. But research shows that cell phones are far dirtier than most people think, and the more germs they collect, the more germs you touch.

In fact, your own hand is the biggest culprit when it comes to putting filth on your phone. Americans check their phones about 47 times per day, according to a survey by Deloitte, which affords plenty of opportunities for microorganisms to move from your fingers to your phone.

“Because people are always carrying their cell phones even in situations where they would normally wash their hands before doing anything, cell phones do tend to get pretty gross,” says Emily Martin, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Research has varied on just how many germs are crawling on the average cell phone, but a recent study found more than 17,000 bacterial gene copies on the phones of high school students. Scientists at the University of Arizona have found that cell phones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats.

Studies have found serious pathogens on cell phones, including Streptococcus, MRSA and even E. coli. Just having these microbes on your phone won’t automatically make you sick, Whittier says, but you still don’t want to let them enter your system. Viruses can also spread on phones if one person is sick with strep throat or influenza and coughs on their cell phone before handing it off to a friend.

Fortunately, there are easy ways to avoid some germs. One of the worst places to use your phone is in the bathroom, Martin and Whittier both agree. When toilets flush, they spread germs everywhere, which is how phones end up with fecal bacteria like E. coli. “Taking a cell phone into the bathroom and then leaving with it is kind of like going in, not washing your hands and then coming back out,” Martin says. “It’s the same level of concern.”

Keeping your phone out of the bathroom will help, but if you want to clean your phone, a few different methods will work. Many people just wipe their phones with a soft microfiber cloth, which will remove many of the germs. For a deeper clean, Whittier recommends using a combination of 60% water and 40% rubbing alcohol. Mix the ingredients together, and then dip a cloth in the solution before wiping it gently across your phone. Unless you’re sick, doing this a few times each month is plenty, Whittier says. Stay away from liquid or spray cleaners, which can damage your phone.

Still, the best advice has more to do with you than the phone. Wash your hands several times a day, the experts say, and you’ll likely be just fine.

Phone Hijacking: The Latest Identity Theft Threat

Security experts have warned consumers for years that their smartphones could be an easy gateway to their identities.

Think of it this way: a thief grabs your phone or someone picks it up in a coffee shop where you’ve left it. If you haven’t passcode protected it or it was still unlocked, they now have access to your email, your Amazon app, your PayPal app, your social media apps, your mobile wallet, and more, all with a few simple password changes.

Clicking “forgot my password” provides them with a link that’s sent to your email or phone number, which they now have access to. A quick browse through your social media might even provide them with the answers to your security questions, such as your mother’s maiden name and the town where you were born. They change all of your passwords and go on a spending spree, all while locking you out.

But experts are now warning about an entirely new threat involving your phone. Phone hijacking, as it’s been called, is technically a form of account takeover. A thief walks into a mobile carrier store and pretends to be you. With a few simple steps, they upgrade your account and walk out with a couple of brand-new iPhones. You only discover the problem when your real phone stops working because the number has been transferred to those new phones…or when the bill for those phones arrives.

This might sound like a random crime of opportunity, but the reality is smartphone hijacking doubled in 2016, and the damage from all forms of account takeover reached well over $2 billion that year.

How are thieves pulling this off? First, there’s a lot of information about consumers floating around “out there.” Seemingly harmless information like your email address and cell phone number aren’t so harmless when a criminal gets just a couple more pieces of information. If you’ve used your email address as your cellular account username, it only takes buying your data off the internet to see if you’ve reused an old password.

Stealing or buying other pieces of data like your medical account information can also help a thief hijack your phone. After all, these records often include a Social Security number, your date of birth, address, email address, and other pertinent details, which could be enough to recreate a driver’s license and convince a cellular employee to upgrade your phone.

To fight back against this kind of crime, consumers have to be prepared to adopt some proactive habits. First, this is precisely why you never reuse a password. In data breaches like the MySpace breach or the Yahoo breach that compromised a database of years’-old information, those old passwords can come back to haunt you if you’re still using them.

Next, it’s absolutely vital that you take action the second you spot something out of the ordinary. Some victims of phone hijacking have reported that they received “changed password” emails from their providers, or that their phones quit working right. Those are giant red flags that must be addressed immediately.

Finally, do not make the mistake of thinking, “Well, it’s just a phone. We’ll figure it out later.” As mentioned above, your phone contains a lot of access to the rest of your identity. Don’t dismiss these warning signs without following through.

5 of the Most Useful iPhone Settings You Aren’t Using

The iPhone’s Settings app is a labyrinth of well-hidden options and useful customizations, but they’re not immediately apparent if you don’t know where to look. Even more confusingly, some of the best settings aren’t in the Settings app at all.

1. Block Web Trackers

We all need to take our online privacy seriously. Today, one of the most common ways you’re being “spied” on is through embedded ads. They let advertisers track you across multiple websites.

To enable the security feature, open the Settings app and go to Safari > Privacy and Security. You should slide the toggles next to Prevent Cross-Site Tracking and Ask Websites Not to Track Me into the On position.

2. Prioritize App Downloads

If you do a bulk download of updates, some of the apps might be out of action for quite a long time while they wait for their place at the front of the download queue. It’s annoying if an app you use all the time is afflicted.

But did you know you can prioritize specific apps to download first? While an app is downloading, 3D Touch (or long-press) it and select Prioritize Download from the list of options. The app will jump to the front of the download queue.

3. Automatically Disconnect From Weak Wi-Fi

If you’ve spent any serious time using public networks, you’ll know how slow and weak they can occasionally be. In such situations, it’s more sensible just use your carrier’s mobile data network.

You can make your phone automatically disconnect from weak networks in advance. Navigate to Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Assist. It will drop the weak network if speeds are too slow.

4. Lock Your Notes

Despite all the security advice about keeping passwords, online banking details, and other sensitive data safe, a lot of people still use the Notes app to keep a record of such information. If you worried about the contents of your Notes app, you should set up the app’s locking feature.

Go to Settings > Notes > Password. You can enter a password and a hint. If you would prefer to use your fingerprint rather than a password, slide the toggle next to Use Touch ID into the On position. To lock a note, swipe it left and tap on the lock icon. Just don't forget your password... there is no recovery process!

5. Change Video Resolution

A minute of footage will only take up 40MB if you record it in 720p at 30fps, whereas a minute of 4K video will take up about 170MB. And sure, high-resolution videos look great on 4K televisions, but how often are you going do that?

If you want to eek a little more storage out of your phone, consider lowering the video quality. If you’re looking to future proof your memories and have plenty of free space, consider using 4K quality if your iPhone supports it.

To change the resolution, go to Settings > Camera > Record Video. Your model of iPhone will dictate compatible resolution and frame rate.

How to Keep Your Devices’ Batteries Alive As Long As Possible

Love them or hate them, batteries power everything you hold dear, or at least everything inside your phone. You might have a brand new iPhone with a fully charged battery or a dying iPhone 6, whose battery is so degraded it requires a replacement from Apple. All batteries degrade eventually, but you can take some preventative steps to keep them in good health for as long as possible.

To keep it operating nominally, you’ll need to occasionally participate in some time-consuming activities, or go against your habits and beliefs as to how you should charge (or discharge) a battery. For the most part, batteries can take care of themselves and combat our bad habits as long as you monitor a few factors. Here’s what you should look into when determining the health of your battery, and how to keep it full of electrons until it’s time for a replacement.

Extreme Temperature Isn’t Good

Not too hot, not too cool: a battery at the extreme ends of the weather spectrum is an inefficient one. You should try to keep your battery’s temperature between 5 to 45 °C (41 to 113 °F). Heat causes a battery to speed up its chemical reactions, which translates to a battery that drains faster than it should.

A cold battery is equally inhibited by the frigid weather, and has a lower capacity compared to a room temperature battery. One more thing: avoid charging your battery in below freezing temperatures, as you could permanently damage its capacity.

Unplugging and Discharging

Every battery has a lifespan, measured in the number of cycles. A cycle is complete every time the battery is fully recharged, whether all at once or over the course of a few days. A battery charged from 80% to 100% every day will take five days to complete one full charging cycle. Going from completely dead to fully charged is another charging cycle.

In general, you shouldn’t allow your battery to fall to dangerously low levels, and should start charging your devices when they fall below 20% to avoid placing stress on a battery by charging it from such a low level (charging from extremely low levels ages the battery and reduces cycle count). If you want, you can unplug your device after it’s fully charged, though most devices automatically cease charging when their battery is full, negating the worry of degrading the battery.

Charging a battery also means you’re expending a charge cycle, so the fewer times you charge it, and the less you charge all at once, the longer it will last. That means battery saving measures like Power Save mode on your devices should be considered when you’re looking to maximize your time up and running.

Monitoring Your Laptop Battery

macOS: Monitoring your battery on the Mac is easy, with the right app. If you’d rather not install any new software, you can look at your Mac’s system information and find the information you need to determine the health of your battery.

1. Hold the Option key and click the Apple menu icon. Choose System Information.
2. Under the Hardware section of the System Information window, select Power. The current cycle count is listed under the Battery Information section.

Apple has a list of maximum cycle counts for each laptop so you can see how close you are to the limit, when battery life starts to degrade.

Alternately, you could install a more visually pleasing app like Battery Health. The free app offers a simple and colorful view of your battery’s performance and discharge history. You can also view the time spent plugged in or running on battery power to get a better idea (and eventually alter) your charging habits

Windows 10: To see how your battery is faring in your Windows 10 laptop, you can go one of two ways. First, you can use Windows 10 and the command line to generate a battery report, which will detail our battery’s usage history. You can see its cycle count, maximum capacity, current capacity, and usage time to determine whether the lifespan you’re getting is in line with the lifespan advertised.

Don’t feel like going into the command line? Download a battery analyzer app like Battery X, which presents your battery health in a clean and simple interface, much different than the HTML battery report Windows 10 generates.

Monitoring Your Smartphone Battery

iOS: Apple, thanks to its unpopular decision to throttle iPhones with older batteries, is updating its battery management service in the upcoming iOS 11.3 software update. You’ll be able to see the health of your battery as a percentage, and determine whether or not you’re due for a replacement.

Android: It’s easy to see what’s draining your battery in Android. You can take a look inside Android’s battery settings to see which service or app is using all of your juice, and adjust your habits accordingly.

You can also look into enabling Android Doze, which essentially stops Android apps from constantly draining your battery life with requests for location data, notifications, and other unseen actions. Want more information on your battery health? Try GSam Battery Monitor, which will display a wealth of data about your battery, including its capacity, cycle count, usage time, and which apps are using the majority of your juice.

5 Cyber Security Tips for Doctor Offices

A staggering 83 percent of physicians recently told AMA researchers that their practices have experienced a cyberattack of some type. The 1,300 physicians surveyed also said not enough cybersecurity support is coming from the government that will hold them accountable for a patient information breach.

The larger the practice, the more likely that specialized staff and resources will be available, but even the smallest medical practice must appropriately address HIPAA requirements. Done right, the risk analysis will go beyond limiting legal exposure. It can also help with meeting Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements.

5 steps, but never “one and done”

HIPAA requirements point to five basic steps in conducting the analysis.

Identify the scope. This includes combining an understanding of the administrative, technical and physical security requirements with a complete inventory of all the devices in your practice that create, receive, maintain or transmit ePHI. The computers and servers that comprise the practice’s electronic health record system are obvious items, but others may not be. Modern photocopiers, for example, contain hard drives that retain images of everything scanned. Be sure to list all portable equipment storing ePHI.

Assess the risk. The purpose here is to identify and document potential vulnerabilities and to assess current security measures. Expect to conduct internal discussions—for example, with the office manager—and to seek external guidance on the current known risks and precautions concerning ePHI. The practice’s legal counsel, government agencies and professional associations are potential sources of information.  

Evaluate the risk. Not all risks carry the same weight. It depends on how likely something unwanted is to happen and the anticipated impact. The webinar provides a grid that helps users rate risk—medium, high, critical—based on likelihood of an occurrence and severity of impact.

For example, if the loss of an unencrypted laptop is judged probable given a practice’s operations (perhaps the practice that conducts patient home visits), and the anticipated impact is severe because of the risk of disclosure of ePHI (such as information about the patients being visited that day), then the risk is considered critical. That risk can be ameliorated with laptop encryption. Risks must also be ranked.

Create a plan to address the risk. “Once you rank your different risks, you want to create a work plan to address those risks,’’ Hoffman said. That will require documentation—for example, work plans, the responsible staff member or contractor, budgets, and target dates.

Periodic review and updates to the risk analysis. A general rule of thumb is once a year, given that MIPS is on an annual timetable.  “A true risk analysis isn’t a one-and-done deal, it is an ongoing process, especially as practices adopt new and evolving technologies” said Hoffman.