Smartphones may offer benefits but they also come with risks.

The use of smartphones has significantly increased over the years. The Mobile Technology Fact Sheet of the Pew Research Internet Project reported that as of January 2014, 58% of American adults have a smartphone. People use them not only to make calls or send messages but also to do online banking, pay bills, store personal data, check personal and work emails, and others.

Users are overwhelmed by a smartphone's cleverness that they seem to overlook the security threats pose by owning one. ENISA, an agency of the European Union formed to contribute to a high level of network and information security within the EU, identified the top ten smartphone risks:

1. Data leakage resulting from device loss or theft - When the phone is lost or stolen, files can easily be accessed by the attacker.

2. Unintentional disclosure of data - The user accidentally reveals personal and other sensitive information.

3. Attacks on decommissioned smartphones - The person sold or transferred the phone to another user without deleting important data.

4. Phishing attacks - The attacker gets sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, and account numbers by using fake applications or messages (such as SMS and email) that some people deemed to be true.

5. Spyware attacks - If the smartphone has spyware installed, it lets someone access or gather personal information.

6. Network spoofing attacks - This method makes use of network access point such as Wi-Fi to intercept or interfere with user communication to perform attacks like that of phishing.

7. Surveillance attacks - An attacker can have the person under surveillance just by his use of phone.

8. Diallerware attacks - Money can be stolen from the user through malware, which uses premium SMS services or numbers.

9. Financial malware attacks - The device is installed with malware that is specifically made to steal sensitive data, such as online banking records and credit card numbers.

10. Network congestion - Smartphone usage may cause network overload that will subsequently result to network unavailability.

How to reduce or avoid smartphone risks:

- Never consider storing sensitive data to your phone.

- Nominate a pass code for your smartphone. In case of a certain number of wrong attempts, have your data deleted automatically (some smartphones have this feature).

- Do not install any application you want, particularly if it asks access to personal data before downloading. Get apps from trusted sources only.