Protecting Your Smartphone Protects Your Home, Business, and Identity
If you’re like most people, your smartphone has become an extension of you. It’s used for everything from communicating with friends and family to online banking. It’s also the home of your business or home security app. Protecting your smartphone is important.
It’s a wonderful thing to do such things as transfer money from savings to checking from the palm of your hand, arm your security system from hundreds of miles away, or chat with friends for hours on end. Most of all, it’s a lifeline.
Debunking the Myths
However, a misconception exists that smartphones can’t be hacked, especially iOS devices because people believe Apple products have a lower risk for viruses. But, did you know a skilled hacker can exploit Bluetooth, opening a door to your device anyway?
The point is that nothing is foolproof, so it’s time to throw the false sense of security out the window and do everything possible to secure your device so that you protect personal data and home and business security apps.
Protecting Your Smartphone: How to Do It
The following are steps on how to protect your smartphone from hackers:
1. Keep your operating system up-to-date
You will sometimes notice that your phone’s operating system offers updates. Don’t ignore these updates because they contain patches that solve security vulnerabilities. Updating is an annoyance, but it’s the difference between a hacker obtaining your bank account information, hacking your social media accounts, or taking control of your home security app.
2. Don’t jailbreak your phone
Many of the more technologically savvy people will “jailbreak” an operating system, but this reduces how well the phone is protected. Jailbreaking allows a person, and hackers, to perform actions that a non-jailbroken phone prohibits.
3. Be careful when installing apps
You may notice that when you install an app, you must give it permission to do certain things. Perhaps it needs to read files, use your microphone, access photos, or access your camera. Legitimate apps request these permissions so they can perform their designed functions. However, hackers can use these functions to gain access to parts of your phone that reveal things about you. Always be aware of what you’re downloading.
If you have an Android device, Google doesn’t employ a strict vetting process like Apple, and that can be somewhat risky. Android also gives you the ability to download apps from third parties, which requires you to go to your security settings and mark “unknown sources” for the apps to operate successfully on the device. While you can download legitimate apps this way, a risk exists.
4. Locking your phone is Protecting Your Smartphone
If you leave or lose your phone, utilizing the Lock Screen protects it. Your email likely contains a lot of personal information. You might even have a banking app on your phone. Everything on your phone is there to make your life easier, which is wonderful. It’s amazing what our phones allow us to do, such as activate our security system from hundreds of miles away or see what the security cameras show.
If you utilize your lock screen, a thief will find it much harder to get into your phone. All smartphones offer the lock feature in some form. For instance, iOS and Android use passcodes, facial recognition, and/or fingerprint recognition.
5. Set up Find My Device
Both Apple and Android use the “Find My Device” service that shows you where your phone is on a map. If it is lost or stolen, you can tack the phone, wipe its memory, or remotely lock it. Make sure you put this feature in place if you haven’t already.
6. Don’t save passwords on your device
As tempting as it can be to save passwords on your device to avoid the taxing task of typing passwords with the very small smartphone keyboard, don’t’ do it. Auto-login is convenient, but it is a huge risk. If your phone is hacked or you lose it, it will be even easier for a thief to access your online accounts.
7. Be careful with open Wi-Fi
Recent years have highlighted the risk of public Wi-Fi. Anyone nearby can view your online activity. While special skills and software are necessary for this, making it less likely at your local Starbucks, it’s still a risk you can’t ignore. Sticking with your phone’s mobile data connection is safer. Alternatively, you can use a VPN like TunnelBear or CyberGhost on your mobile phone to encrypt your connection.
From Home Security Apps to Protecting Your Smartphone
All in all, your mobile device is a wonderful thing. It allows you to do things on the go that you couldn’t do before it existed. However, the device you love so much needs to be secured just like any device that accesses the internet. By implementing the above measures, you greatly reduce the chances that you will become a victim.
To learn more about how to better secure your home or business and the business and home security apps that are used to control them no matter where you are, call SPS Fire & Security at 585-770-0348. We serve Rochester, NY; Buffalo, NY; Syracuse, NY and the surrounding areas.
