11 Mobile Security Tips to Keep Your Device Safe

Set Screen Lock

This is your first line of security. Without a lock screen pattern or pin, breaking into your phone would be effortless. More recent phones provide advanced security features like facial recognition and fingerprint scanning to unlock your device. These two features are better at securing your phone because your biological features are unique and difficult to recreate.

Secure Your Passwords

Create complex passwords for your apps and websites. Avoid obvious combinations like “123456”, “password”, “qwerty”, or your birthday. If you are not sure about how to choose a reliable password combination, opt for the option of auto-generating one on reputable password managers. It’s the best way to come up with strong protection that will secure your mobile device from malicious attacks.

Avoid Clicking on Malicious Links

Hackers are notorious for phishing attacks. They can send malicious links in an email or sms with the intention of stealing your personal information. If you fall for this and click on such links, you might become a victim of identity theft, which can have irreversible consequences that will be difficult to deal with.

Because hackers hide behind other people’s identities and for obvious reasons don’t mention their real names, it is important to be sure about the people you meet online. Check the phone number from which you received a suspicious message on Nuwber to get detailed information about those reaching out to you. 

Download from Trusted Resources Only

It is now almost obvious that a lot of sites on the internet harbor corrupt files full of malware. Therefore, to secure your phone from viruses, avoid downloading apps, music, and other files from untrusted sites. To download apps, use Google Play Store or App Store for iPhones, while for music, consider Spotify.

Use Antivirus Protection

It is not uncommon to occasionally mess up and innocently click malicious links. In fact, hackers are increasingly getting smarter and using more clever ways to succeed without being flagged. Also, with the busy nature of workplaces and tight deadlines, scanning all devices for malware is hard.

Therefore, using antivirus software can be helpful as it senses the threat in real-time to help you avoid getting caught unawares. Antivirus software quarantine, block, and permanently delete malware-infected files.

Implement Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication is an identity and access management security method that adds an extra layer of protection to your phone and apps. 2FA requires one or more verification factors to allow you to access your device.

Rather than the traditional single unique identifier and password security system, 2FA typically requires you to key in another generated one-time password (OTP). Apart from OTP, a 2FA system can also ask for extra information. For example, you can choose to key in your dog’s name whenever 2FA is required.

Stop Using Public Wi-Fi

Walking into your favorite café and browsing the internet using their Wi-Fi seems harmless until you understand the covert threat that may hit you. Because of the lack of encryption, public Wi-Fi becomes an easy target for hackers who can easily access and steal your personal data such as credit card details and passwords.

Public Wi-Fi can also be infected with malware that can corrupt your personal files, delete them, or even be withheld for ransom.

However, public Wi-Fi is undeniably convenient, especially in libraries. Therefore, you may find it difficult to resist it and just compromise. In such cases, use a VPN to cover your tracks and avoid malicious tracking.

Update Your Phone and Apps Regularly

Hackers are known to play on developers’ weaknesses. Once they identify a vulnerability, they try to exploit it completely. In the same way, developers stay vigilant, look for any faults, and create solutions to cover the flaws. Therefore, always update your phone and apps to the latest version to be safe. To ensure prompt updates, enable automatic system ones.

Avoid Rooting and Jailbreaking

Rooting refers to unlocking an Android phone’s operating system to get better administrative control (root access) and bypass the manufacturer’s restrictions. For example, by rooting your phone, you can delete bulky inbuilt applications. Jailbreaking is the iPhone equivalent of rooting.

However, rooted phones are highly vulnerable to malware and can’t be updated by the manufacturer to curb malware attacks. Furthermore, some rooting tools are also malware-infested within their own code, posing a bigger threat to your phone.

Enable Remote Access and Tracking

Remote access allows you to access files even when your device is far from you, for example, when it is stolen. You can remotely delete sensitive files to avoid data breaches, for instance.

Likewise, it is possible to track your stolen phone. On Android, you can use the “Find My Device” feature, a GPS tracker for Google users. For iPhone users, “Find My iPhone on iCloud” is the best option for tracking a stolen device.

Backup Your Data

It is better to be safe than sorry. In case your phone gets attacked by malware and files get corrupted, deleted, or infected with ransomware, you can easily retrieve your data from a backup. For Android users, it’s possible to back up data on Google Drive, while iPhone users can back up their data on iCloud.

Conclusion

Mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives. Apart from the immense benefits and convenience we get from using them, they also keep a lot of sensitive data that we wouldn’t want to be compromised or lost. Therefore, it is important to implement robust security measures to protect our phones from theft and cybercrime. With the help of the tips mentioned above, you will be able to protect your mobile phone and avoid unpleasant consequences.