Protecting your smartphone should be your topmost priority because the data that we have in our cellphones can be misused in many ways. Normally, people have their work or business-related data on their phone that includes the information of various clients, prospects, company private details, etc. Even if a person doesn’t have work-related data on their smartphone, he/she would always have a number of their personal pictures that can be misused on the internet. In fact, with dark web there are a lot of ways how hackers can even sell your information for money. So, let’s check out the various ways through which your smartphone can be more protected.
We are always looking out for the latest innovation and technological advances in smartphones or what mobile best suits our needs that we should buy. However, we sometimes forget about making our smartphones safe and more protected. With so many technological advancements, data breach has also become very common. It can be seen that very frequently data is being stolen even from big multinational companies, so hacking our smartphones is just a piece of cake for hackers out there.
Updating the software
Updating software not only increases the efficiency of your smartphone or adds up new functionalities in it, but it also enhances the security. There are a lot of software updates that are from a security point of view, which makes your phone to be more protected with data encryption. Hence, it is advised that you should always update your software. In this way, you will be protecting the data in your phone from the hackers out on the internet. You should check your software updates frequently by going into the setting of your device and then looking for system updates.
Don’t download untrusted apps
There are a lot of apps available in the Play Store and AppStore that can be downloaded on your devices, very easily. However, when using the app, it always asks for access to your photos and microphone, which should be evaluated first very carefully, before granting the permission to the app. Many of the third-party apps can’t be trusted and they carry various viruses or tricks that can easily hack your device. Android users are more vulnerable to such apps, as compared to the Apple users. By giving access to such third-party apps, you might be granting a doorway to the hackers.
Use facial recognition or fingerprint scanner
Hackers or intruders can have a very easy access to your smartphone if you are leaving it unlocked. You should always lock your phone when it is not in use. Android and iOS users both have the option to lock their phones with passcodes as well. However, features like facial recognition or fingerprint sensors are more advanced and personalized. They are far more difficult to breach when trying to unlock an unknown phone. It is the reason why people have been using these two features to get maximum protection on their phone.
Install phone finding apps
We aren’t asking you to think anything negative, but there is a chance of your phone getting stolen. In this case, if you have phone finding apps installed, it would get much easier for you to find the device. There is a lot of data stored on your phone that you don’t want to be going in wrong hands. So, for iPhone users, ‘Find my iPhone’ is your best friend as it tells you the exact location of your device. For Android users, the ‘Android Device Manager’ is the app to go.
Don’t store online passwords
Usually, we login to our bank or other social media sites on our phone and save the password online. It is the worst thing to do. You might be saving your passwords because you are not good at remembering it, but what if others might be on the look for your passwords that can be easily retrieved from those pages. You should never save passwords on your phone, especially your bank details, credit or debit card numbers or pins.
Set up a VPN
Always set up a VPN when you are using public networks. Whenever you use a public wifi then you should always use a VPN. It is extremely convenient to transfer information like pictures, videos or even bank details while we are out and using the public data. However, you never where the data travels and if there is a breach in between. Hackers can easily get access to all those information that you are sending while on a public network.
Lock Apps
Having a strong password or pin for the individual apps would not allow the hackers to steal any information from the apps. It is very easy for Android users because they have the access to lock their apps individually, however, Apple users can download such apps and then make their other applications secure with it. Even if the phone gets stolen and the thief manages to open your phone, they would never be able to access the data that is present on your apps, which can include your banking app or insurance apps.