I have a friend (lady) who ran into a problem with her iPhone. Her ex. boyfriend installed some spyware on it and was able to read all her email. SMS etc.
Now she wants a new phone, certainly not an iPhone.
Now, how safe is WP8?
Should she get a WP8 or an Android like the OneX+ and encrypt it?
She wants a phone where without the password there is no way to install malware! She has lost any faith in iOS and wants something that ensures her privacy.
Anyone have good knowledge of this?
I'll gladly respond to specific questions.
However, security is a big topic that can mean a lot of things. You can't have a meaningful discussion without more precisely defining what aspect of security you are referring to. I suspect your friend is really just asking for a means of ensuring that nobody but her has permission to install apps on her phone. Right? That is easily achieved (on any OS) simply by password protecting the lock screen.
Anyway, one common misconception is that security is fundamentally and solely a technological issue. In reality, it is most often the user that represents the biggest threat. Security is like a chain, as it is only as strong as its weakest link, which is typically the user (Android is an exception, as it doesn't really have a chain). Stated bluntly, technology has few means of protecting people from their own incompetence. People don't like to hear that, but if they truly want to get serious about security, they need to hear it. I'm saying this only because it sounds like your friend is expecting technology to automagically solve all her security related issues. That won't happen. If she wanted to restrict access to her phone, why did she not keep out of others grasp? Why did she not password protect her lock screen? No phone on earth will force her to do those things?
At least in this specific scenario, it can be said that no such thing could of happened on a windows phone, as no API exists through which apps can read your mails. On the other hand, encryption would have been entirely unhelpful. I would recommend reading up on what problems encryption is actually intended to solve.
She should also be made aware that any real security always comes at a price, either in features or in usability. That is the main reason WP is a lot more restrictive than other mobile operating systems (no file access, no file explorer, isolated storage, etc).
Anyway,
this is an example of what the security industry is saying about windows phone (in this case f-secure). Windows Phone 8 is one of the most secure OS' out there, if not the most secure, and by that I don't just mean smartphones OS'.
Finally, discussing device routing is a bit strange in this context, as that is the single worst thing anyone interested in security could do. Any normal user shouldn't even think of it.
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