DOs & DON’Ts – How to Secure Your Mobile Phone
Modern mobile phones are much more than ordinary devices for making calls and texting. They have become almost real computers that allow you to do shopping to pay some bills, or exchange files. And these very functions made smartphones and tablets a good target for malicious attacks.
Today, I’m going to give you several pieces of advice about how not to get hacked. Follow these simple steps and you will stay secure.
Do’s
1. Keep your applications and system regularly updated. The mobile developers look for some “holes” in the code that hackers can use by Hackers fix them as soon as possible, leaving fewer and fewer possibilities to steal your info.
2. Use a password on the phone and a PIN code on the SIM card. And change them regularly.
3. Set up your gadget to lock automatically and to require a password to unlock.
4. Encrypt the personal data. Some very prominent steps have been made in this direction by the developers of mobile operating systems, but still, there is some space for improvement. You can do it by loading special apps.
5. Install a security app. Such apps help to protect your data from incoming attacks and threats, just like antivirus software does for your PC. Also, such an application allows you to locate your phone if it is stolen.
6. Be careful with what you click and what you download. Thousands of malware programs try to steal your credit card information while you are browsing the Internet. Visit only trustworthy resources and sites.
7. The heck app’s data access. After installing n,y the app, make sure that the app doesn’t use or even doesn’t e access your personal information. Or at least that you have gained access to it by yourself.
8. Turn Bluetooth and GPS off when you aren’t using them. These ways of transmitting the information aren’t secure ones, so try to limit their use and change the phone settings so that your phone asks to join a new wireless network.
9. Check the phone bill for some unusual data charges and payments. Contact the service provider immediately ifhave found any calls or data usage that you didn’t make.
10. Set up your phone in a way that backs up the data to a separate memory card.
11. Delete all your personal information if you are going to sell or recycle the phone.
Don’ts
1. Don’t do shopping or banking when you are on a publicnetworks the connection might not be secure.
2. Don’t load apps from untrusted resources. It is mainly from official app markets of Google, Apple, and BlackBerry. There are lots of third-party sites that offer infected apps to install.
3. Don’t click on any suspicious or unexpected links. Even when they seem to be from your friends as their accounts might be jailbroken too.
4. Don’t stay logged in to the site when you don’t use it; clear cookies regularly.
5. Don’t save any passwords on your mobile phone.
Signs of a malicious infection of your phone
• A sudden increase in your phone bill without a clear reason for it;
• Your user interface has been changed unexpectedly. Find any emails or messages in the sent folder that you don’t know about.
Security of mobile systems is a rather new concept. Most people think that smartphones are like smart toys, even without thinking about how much personal data is kept there. So, don’t be one of them!