Protect Your Smartphone

​The 10 best ways to secure your Android phone

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Find out more in our article: Protect your smartphone from malware and fraud: Our best connection in and out of the home. How to tell if a call is from BT. Changing your name on Facebook: We show you how to do it. How your smartphone can look after your health — fitness apps and wellbeing tools for your mobile. Set up your TV for the ultimate Champions League experience.

Keep your phone safe: How to protect your Android smartphone from viruses. Prevent app installs from unknown sources Next, check that your Android device is set up to only allow app installations from the Google Play store. Restrict downloads with a password If you let other people use your Android smartphone then it is essential to enable a password for installation of new apps.

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Combining lower-case letters, upper-case letters, numbers, and special characters increases the strength of the pass code exponentially. This allows the user to remotely wipe out all data contained on a device with a few clicks. However, by the time a user realizes their phone is missing and initiates the data wipe, it could be too late.

Lee Munson is a security researcher for tech comparison site Comparitech. Meanwhile, owners of other devices can enjoy a similar level of protection via an increasingly large number of popular apps, including perennial favorite WhatsApp, which promises to scramble their messages in a way no law enforcement agency can circumvent, as far as we know. Anna Tate works in marketing communications for IPVanish.

Ho! ho! hold on to your data!

Encrypt and anonymize every transaction. We also offer a kill switch, so if you lose your VPN connection, your Internet connection can optionally be disconnected as well, so as to not transmit sensitive data. If you want to take an extra step or two, you can use an anonymous payment method, such as Bitcoin, so your financial data is not logged. You can create a separate email address for sensitive transactions through a service like ProtonMail. In short, the more anonymous you are, and the more precautions you take to encrypt your data, the safer your communications will be.

Use a stronger password by making it longer good advice for any device that has a login or password. Take advantage of the 6-digit option on your iPhone. Your Android can have up to 16 digits for a numeric password. Katrina is a Canadian writer currently living and working in Hungary. She writes about technology, cyber security, and online backups for 4Choice. Ransomware is one of the biggest malware threats that exist today.

And while many are familiar with the fact that it attacks computers, few know that it can attack mobile phones as well. Given that many people keep a lot of their personal and financial data on their smartphones not the type of information you want held ransom by cyber criminals!

2. Be careful of what you install

That way, should your phone get infected, you can wipe and restore your phone without losing your data. Zach Taiji is a digital publicist for PulpPR, working primarily with technology startups to help fuel his passion for technology and gadgets. Set unique passwords for each of your apps. As Director of Engineering, Mike Cobb manages the day-to-day operations of the Engineering Department including the physical and logical recoveries of rotational media, SSDs, smart devices, and flash media. Mike makes sure that each of the departments and their engineers are certified and that they continue to gain knowledge in their field.

Do not put any unsolicited software on your phone. Make copies of important contents and store them on a computer hard drive or through a cloud-based backup service. Updates will likely include security improvements too. As the BYOD movement gains momentum, so too do security threats.

Data security is one of the biggest risks. To be kept secure, data must be encrypted. App security is also a risk. Employees frequently use consumer apps when doing work from their mobile devices. They do not provide the required enterprise-grade security and archival capabilities, and this leaves users and their employers vulnerable to attack. Device security is another issue. If a device is lost or stolen, that puts companies at risk, especially if the data and apps are not properly protected.

Given that 1 in 10 smartphone owners are victims of phone theft, according to Lookout Mobile, and that on average consumers lose their phones about once a year, this is a big risk. The most important strategy is to password protect your phone and data.

If an employee is using their personal devices for work and that device is lost or stolen, cyber thieves may be able to log in and collect sensitive company data, as well as personal account information. Password-locking your phone is essential for protecting your information. Sensitive data on your phone or the apps they are in should also be protected with a strong password that contains upper and lowercase letters, as well as numbers and symbols.

Consider using numbers and symbols that resemble letters to strengthen your password while keeping it easy to recall, e. When a data breach occurs, cyber criminals often sell the information to third parties before the theft is detected. To keep track of all these passwords, consider using a password management system. Passwords are the first line of defense, but creating strong, unique passwords and changing them frequently can be a hassle.

Password management software automatically handles password creation and changes, and only requires users to remember one password. These scams occur when a cyber thief calls or emails while posing as a banking or merchant account official and attempts to collect login information. A sophisticated scammer can create a site that looks legitimate, so never give out unsolicited account information or provide information through a source that is not secure.

Finally, make sure employees know how to keep company information safe. Provide employees with the training and resources they need to operate devices safely. Add apps for things like antivirus. Then you need to look at what aspect of securing your device you are aiming for: Some obvious advice is to only download apps from trusted sources — iTunes and Google Play etc. Silvana Demeter is a tech enthusiast, cybersecurity fan, PR professional, dog person, wanderlust sufferer, and daydreamer.

1. Keep up to date – and don’t open up holes yourself

Efficiently combining top notch security software promotion with the fight against censorship and freedom of speech, Silvana is aiming for a free Internet where digital citizens can enjoy privacy and are free. One product to keep private data secure and avoid phone hijacking. Judging by the infection vectors, a cell phone, and the data on it can be compromised through various means, each different but with similar consequences: With an integrated anti-malicious websites module, CyberGhost warns users about the lurking dangers online.

Users can enjoy a private browsing experience while tracking attempts are blocked. Read the full detailed description of any app you download. Find an alternative to any that are too intrusive.

Mobile Security

George founded Akruto, Inc. Prior to founding Akruto, George managed teams of engineers at large companies as well as successful start-ups. Prior to that, he attended Boston University, where he graduated summa cum laude in with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. Move away from storing private and sensitive information in the public cloud, where it can be stolen or leaked. You already signed it away. Andrew has designed enterprise vulnerability management programs and developed robust security practices into software development life cycles SDLCs for Fortune clients.

Keeping your software current will protect you from attacks that have been addressed by manufacturers. Hundreds of millions of Android phones are stuck on versions of the operating system that can never be patched and are trivial to compromise.

Stay Connected

Recent press surrounding malware on the Android operating system has reinforced the need to be cautious when downloading applications, and to pay attention to the requirements this software demands upon install. While the Android Market recently succumbed to a malware scare https: Agreeing to save user details and passwords when logging into websites for future access may be convenient, but makes it very easy for those accessing an unprotected phone to do the same.

This is particularly important when it comes to online banks and merchants, as these sites often have bank account details saved automatically under your username and would make it easy for others to make unwanted purchases or transactions. In addition users should pay attention to any potential security warnings that may be displayed when viewing websites , particularly if accessing them through unknown wireless networks, and not just dismiss these without thought. Web pages that involve the entry of sensitive data such as a username, password or account details should always use encrypted protocols to protect this information.

Since rooting allows a user access to system-level resources , it also opens these up for potential infection by malware. Part of the reason why this critical data is inaccessible is to protect it from such threats, and while you may benefit from more flexibility in the short term, writers of malicious code can also benefit from full access to your device if it becomes infected.

This may sound like scaremongering, but it just goes to show the importance of being aware of the potential dangers involved with modern smartphones, particularly flexible, open-source platforms like Android. Discovering that a phone has been lost or stolen is bad enough, but even when discounting the potential damage that could be done by sensitive data getting into the wrong hands, important documents, contacts, messages, appointments and other information could take a long time to replace.

Ensuring that regular backups are made is therefore essential , and there are a number of ways to go about it. This can include e-mails and contacts with Microsoft Outlook, photos uploaded to online storage or proprietary software supplied by the phone manufacturer to simply backup key data in the event of loss. Some modern security suites designed for use on mobile devices also offer an automatic backup facility to take the hassle out of doing this manually. There are also a range of services that allow you to automatically backup specific data to an online resource , taking the hassle out of having to connect a phone to a computer.

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