Should Taxes Be Filed on Smart Phones?

There's the risk of having this sensitive information compromised by mobile malware - and that threat is growing

The major software products like Turbo Tax, H&R Block and TaxAct let you prepare forms on your mobile device, with apps that let you take a photo of your W-2 to populate your return. You already shop and do banking on your smartphone, but should you do your taxes this way?

NBC News BETTER spoke to a number of nationally recognized privacy and digital security experts who all agreed that using a mobile device creates vulnerabilities. One of the biggest risks: People who take photos with their personal phones and do not delete those photos after, leaving a copy of sensitive data on the phone.

Robert Sicliano, security analyst with Hotspot Shield, worries about lost or stolen mobile devices that do not have password protection. He said that "when someone finds or steals your mobile phone they have access to everything on it and in this case, your tax return."

There's also the risk of having this sensitive information compromised by mobile malware - and that threat is growing. The number of new mobile malware variants increased by 54 percent in 2017, according to a new report from Symantec.

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