Attacks on smartphones surge (上升)

Attacks on smartphones surge (上升)

Hacking (非法侵入) attacks on smartphones have surged 15 percent this year.

This has prompted (驅使) the Hong Kong Productivity Council to call for (呼籲) the adoption (採用) of good cyber management practices. The council's executive director Agnes Mak Tang Pik-yee said yesterday 181 hacking cases were reported to its emergency response team in the first six months of this year. But the statistics do not depict the full picture (note 1) as some victims are probably unaware of (note 2) attacks, she said. Most smartphone users have not installed (裝置) security software, while many organizations and companies do not have policies to regulate and monitor (note 3) the use of such devices (儀器) in the office environment.

Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre manager Roy Ko Wai-tak said that, given the potential danger (潛在危險), companies should consider whether to allow employees to use their smartphones to transfer (轉移) corporate information. "It is common for companies to provide smartphones to their employees," Ko said.

"But if they provide the smartphones, they need to install security software." Smartphones enable employees to conveniently communicate with their companies through e-mail or instant messaging. But Ko warned that users are hacked mainly through opening e-mails from unknown sources (note 4) or downloading (下載) application software with hidden destructive programs.

Users' personal information stored in the smartphones can be stolen and their smartphones controlled by hackers can transmit viruses (病毒) to other users. Ko also expressed concern over privacy and security on social- networking websites (note 5) such as Facebook. Some users put all their information, including contact numbers and home addresses, on their websites.
From good to better English:

(note 1) depict the full picture=反映真實情況。Depict=刻畫。Depict 的同義詞有 delineate, describe, express, image, portray。Picture=情景；局面。come into the picture =引起注意。 out of the picture=不重要的。

(note 2) unaware of=不清楚、沒有覺察到。unaware of the danger=未察覺危險。unaware of的相反就是aware of (曉得，發覺)。Victor makes Bo Bo aware that drinking alcohol is bad for her health= Victor提醒Bo Bo注意不要喝太多酒。

(note 3) regulate and monitor=規定，管制和監控。Regulate的同義詞有control, govern,adjust, fix。monitor =探索，追蹤。例句: Dong Dong monitors the political views of the people for Donald Tsang= Dong Dong幫特首追蹤市民的意見。

(note 4) unknown sources=來源不明、來歷不明。News sources=提供消息的人。a reliable and authoritative source=可靠權威人士。the source of wealth=財富來源。trace to its source=追根尋源。

(note 5) social- networking websites=社交網站。最多人用的社交網站包括有Facebook, Myspace和Google Plus等。隨著資訊科技的發展、社交網站使得人與人之間的互動、情感表達的來源與方式更加多元化。無論是社交活動、娛樂、消費等，香港不少人都透過社交網站滿足各種需求，社交網站儼然成了一種傳播溝通媒體。

Victor’s View: Telephone hacking has become a scandal in several newspapers owned by News Corp. It won’t surprise me a bit that many Hong Kong people’s phones are hacked.

(Victor Fung Keung, director of HK Baptist University’s M.A. in international journalism program, has published 4 books on English-enhancement [the latest, titled <<學會演說、改變你的人生>>, was published on July 18] and plans to write 6 more by the end of 2012. Write to him: deanfungenglish@gmail.com)