12 Tips To Secure Your Mobile Phone From Hackers
People are using smartphones more than ever and this trend isn't slowing down anytime soon whether you're new to smartphones or not you should know that they can be a huge target for hackers smartphones contain a lot of your personal information which can give someone else all they need to steal your identity or your digital data.
Smartphone hacking is a profitable enterprise because hacking into smartphones is simple it's because it's so deserving your phone is an integral part of your life with so much anything before its passage into your phone is access into your mind.
1.Strengthen your password
Some of us might look back at the good old days when having a password was a few characters long it was easy to remember and you didn't need something that looked like it spilled out from the matrix unfortunately these days it's too easy to guess a standard password so it needs to be uncrackable here are some tips for making your password a little stronger.
- combine old passwords with a new one to get supercharged passwords you can add the name of your favorite animal or food with the year you first knew that add that on to the end of any password you already have to make your password uncrackable since most social media sites allow up to 15 characters for passwords keep your login original characters and numbers are fine but adding symbols and other special characters can really take your password up a notch.
2.Device encryption
This one is apparently authorized by default to double-check research for encrypt device in your Settings app and follow directions on the protection when more traditional Android gadgets you should have your gadgets charged and plugged in during encryption and set and remember password
You should additionally arrange for your device to delete all the data on your phone after too several improper tries this protects your device from facing brute-force attacks when somebody gets physical access encrypting your phone does not protect you from malware or remote exploitation device it only works if a phone gets stolen.
3.Be smart on social media Sites
Social isn't nearly as private or protected as you may think in the old days you could easily block people from looking at your information but with the size of Facebook, it's rare that your profile is truly private to maximize your safety always click the settings that only allow your friends and family to see your posts and pictures unless you know someone who wants to be your friend.
Be cautious about accepting friend requests fake profiles can fool you into thinking you know that person a quick look at their friend list and recent posts tell you if they're active in a group or not look at a message to a friend requests with links that look and feel fishy some sneaky hackers can copy friends emails and send messages with link s hoping you'll press the link by the time you do you'll be suckered into giving up the info you didn't want to be stolen worse yet you could be locked out of your own profile account if they steal your password too so always be on the lookout for suspicious messages.
4.Enable 2FA (Two Factor Authentication)
Enabling 2FA can double your Security and if combine with a strong password Always Enable 2FA for your Social Media and Important sites so if your Password Gets compromised you have OTP to secure your account from hackers.
5.Don't use open or Public Wi-Fi
Free High-speed WiFi is something that only a few can resist but this WiFi lurking with some very serious dangers you should need to aware of.
Clicking on a link or popup from free WiFi can be very serious if a hacker is also using that WiFi he can hijack sessions of yours and do whatever he wants from your accounts. or use tools to find credentials
This can be used as identity theft and your all information is being used by the wrong person. Disable your WiFi and network also for safety and use password of course.
Using VPN and TOR can also work they hide your identity from ISP and Browsers
6.Add more protection
Just like your home computer you need a good firewall to protect your internet connection luckily new phones do a bit more than that every phone has its own firewall though you can always add more security apps to be double sure and this is a measure.
Some apps work better for Android than they do for iPhone but there's plenty of software available a quick look through the Apple Store or Google Play app list will get you started some app names such as Norton Avast and Mcfee are best.
Using VPN services can also help here such as ProtonVPN which is the best VPN out there be sure to check out to get 30 days free VPN for Desktop or mobile.
It doesn't hurt to add this extra protection to your phones firewall apps protect you from select dangers to help keep your ID and info safe while others just target viruses when it comes to overall coverage find an app that offers complete packages choose what's best for you
7. Don't answer fishy and scammy unknown numbers
The only scams we used to encounter were rudimentary email scams that were incredibly obvious who would fall for that these days well to say it's still happening to those who own a smartphone -
Did you ever get a missed call with an area code you don't recognize while most of these get blocked by your phone automatically some can slip through chances are if you call back that number you'll be sorry you did the trick to this is that your call is routed through an international premium rate number and can charge you way more than your monthly bill and it's more common than you think if you call back that number the cost of the call gets paid to the hackers these one-ring calls are the typical signs of this scam so you'll think you missed an important call don't be sucked into losing your money just erase or block the number you won't be called by that number ever again hopefully your smart phone will block other calls from that same area code as well.
8.Use cloud storage
cloud storage allows you to store important information and files in a location that's not on your phone this can be smart because it means the files aren't located on your phone if your phone is lost stolen or damaged you won't lose any of the data in cloud storage.
Most importantly this means your information can be kept out of the hand of hackers cloud accounts are pretty hard to crack so even if you have an account on your device it'll be safe these accounts often have double password encryption so no login attempts are the same you might need a second login code sent to your mobile number to complete a cloud login this keeps hackers from getting the information you want to keep private while it might seem odd to put private information into cloud storage.
It's not such a bad idea having a mobile device clutter-free when you use it for business means you don't have to worry about misplacing files or running out of storage this also helps you travel light wherever you go and you won't have to worry about losing your pen drive that could fall into the wrong hands.
Secure backup cloud and syncing if you're using backups or syncing make sure they are encrypted as well cloud backups are oftentimes an easy target to steal your private data secure your accounts with 2fa if you use Google Drive or iCloud your cloud backups use the same 2fa as your remained Google account or Apple ID connected to your phone if you decide to trust your default providers you're not in control of the security of your data people holds or decryption keys and they can access your data in the iCloud any time they want and I think only you should be able to decrypt your data crypto matter allows you to create encrypted vaults and automatically sync your secure backups to the cloud surveys of your choice if you don't pay for the service you are so I would recommend to go for next cloud you can get between two to five gigabytes of cloud storage for free but it might not be enough for those of you taking plenty of high-resolution photos but next cloud is free and open-source and many providers even offer instant encryption so this is the is the cloud service that you should go for .
9.Check app permissions
All apps of settings that allow app permissions tell the app what it can and can't do when it's connected to the Internet some of the common options include whether an app can access your photos contacts our camera and microphone.
this is really important that you might not want your audio or visual gadgets to be used by other people these settings also control the amount of info given about your self and the information that's stored on your phone if these app settings are set up to your approval then you won't have to worry about that info being leaked often some hackers target certain apps that don't have secure internet connections your live images could be stolen through your phone or tablet and you never know where they could end up after that worse yet is that your
private info can be sold to marketing agencies who will target you just from your mobile search history no it's not just Facebook that does it numerous third-party app pirates like to sell your private info too this can be avoided by checking your app permission settings on every app you decide to download.
10.watch out for phishing apps
By now you have a good idea what phishing means and those who get hooked weren't being careful online game apps look attractive and have lots of flashy advertising which is a bit like a worm on a hook.
If you ever knew someone who likes sport fishing they use special bait to lure and catch their fish the same works for game apps that tempt you with flashy graphics before taking your information you'll know when you set these apps because they aren't on the official app sites such as Google Play or the Apple Store often they're traps that show up on rabbit-hole web sites.
This is where you click on a link to a second web site which takes you through a string of different web sites you never actually get to the web site that you're looking for it can seem endless at times and this is where you start to see very familiar app game links these are usually copycat games that look just like the official ones but they're not they trick you into giving up all sorts of information to play the game they can also hack your phone giving them access to your private info for them to exploit don't ever fall for this kind of fishing bait.
11.activate your phone's security features
New mobile devices give you lots of choices to protect you from getting hacked there isn't a smartphone out there today that doesn't have software filters that spot apps or files with dangerous malware.
this is similar to software and computers which will prevent you from installing software that is detected to be unsafe antivirus blockers for apps that are easy to turn on inside your smartphone settings they're specifically designed to look for malware and app games if a game doesn't download chances are the app could be harmful to install.
This is also great for kids who might not fully understand the apps they're clicking on or downloading once again if your device thinks it's not good for downloading you don't want to risk being hacked make sure you stick with official games that come from sources that have already screened their app games but even Google Play and Apple Store apps can have malware that's hidden somewhere so always activate your virus app blocker to be on the safe side.
12.Go beyond passwords
Having your smartphone stolen is about the worst thing you can imagine then again if they can get into your phone because you don't have a password set up you're in real trouble, fortunately, there are some innovative things you can do to prevent thieves from getting your information too easily
New apps and models now allow fingerprint identification to unlock a phone for it to work you press a touch screen window holding your finger down if your print doesn't match the exact image that's stored in the phone's memory it won't open this can also be combined with a two-step process that uses a fingerprint and a password in addition you should also install a mobile tracker.
this can be activated as soon as you notice your phone is missing an owner can then track their phone via the app and catch whoever is carrying your stolen goods some apps will even allow you to delete the info that's stored on the phone in an emergency but as long as you can get your phone back in one piece that's probably the best solution better call the police for help once you finally track down your phone.
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