5 Tips To Improve Mobile Security

5 Tips To Improve Mobile Security

Everywhere you look, people are on their smartphones. These devices have become a permanent fixture in our lives. We spend more time on our smartphones than we do on our desktops, making mobile devices a bigger target for cyber attacks thus further fortifying your mobile security is of utmost importance in this day and age.

We keep an awful lot of personal information on our mobiles these days and, as a direct result, these devices know quite a lot about us – making the prize of a successful hack quite valuable. From our location and contacts to our favourite hangouts and hobbies, we happily exchange some of this information for “free” services from the likes of trusted software like Google. However, there are plenty of less scrupulous people and businesses out there that would also like to get their hands on this information.

In this blog, we outline five tips that would improve mobile security and protect you against any nasty little digital perpetrators lurking in the cyber world.

Password protect your smartphone

This may seem blindingly obvious, but a surprisingly high percentage of people do not password protect their smartphones. Research by the Pew Research Center found that most of those surveyed didn’t password protect their smartphone. Not doing this makes your phone a lot more attractive to cyber thieves.

Keep your OS up-to-date and use official app stores

Updates for mobile phone operating systems are released often to improve security and performance. The sheer frequency of these updates, coupled with worries about how much space they will take up, and concerns about the impact they may have on a phone’s battery performance, often deter people from downloading them. These updates, however, often protect against newly discovered threats and vulnerabilities – keeping your phone safe so you might as well clear up your hesitation now.

The temptation for users to jailbreak their phone so they can use software other than the official and recommended ones is often strong. However, doing this can mean really putting the security of your phone at risk. The official avenues have a vetting process for apps, which makes the chances of a malicious app making its way into your phone less likely. Malicious apps like this can install spyware or steal information such as banking details from your smartphone. Therefore, downloading them is really not worth the risk. Do not forego mobile security for this!

Download security software for your phone to ensure mobile security

While people are generally fairly vigilant about downloading security software to protect their laptops and desktop computers, they are not always so vigilant about protecting their smartphones. However, it is highly recommended to download a good security package for your mobile. Anti-virus software is a key component in protecting the security of your mobile device. These programs scan the operating system of a mobile device, identify risks, and remove them.

Furthermore, many anti-virus software applications are designed to not interfere with the usual speed and performance of your mobile device. In fact, in many instances, they include features that are designed to keep your phone running faster.

Monitoring your App Permissions – Don’t be lazy

While it may be tempting to breeze through the permission grants for an app you really want, it’s extremely important to pay close attention to the access these apps are asking for. They could have an immense impact on your phone’s mobile security.

Not long ago Apple banned hundreds of iPhone apps that were secretly gathering personal information from individuals who download them.

Beware of the risks of public Wi-Fi – VPN could be your new best friend

It is always tempting to connect to public Wi-Fi when it is available, however, public Wi-Fi networks can make it easy for an attacker to intercept the traffic you are sending over the unencrypted network. It is recommended to never send sensitive information over public Wi-Fi. For instance, handling banking via your smartphone on a public Wi-Fi network can leave your personal data vulnerable to attack, leading to identity theft, stolen credit card numbers, and much more.

To increase your security on public Wi-Fi, using a mobile VPN could also be an option. However, ensure that the mobile VPN you download is legitimate and not harvesting any data off your phone.

Key takeaways

The most effective change that you can make is to tweak your phone usage habits. Keep location usage to a minimum, disable or uninstall apps that you don’t use, keep a close eye on app permissions during updates, and change your passwords regularly, and you should be safe enough.

For more information on how to improve mobile security visit BoxedTech.

 

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