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Smartphones have become integral to our daily lives; we use them for everything from communication, entertainment, and financial transactions.
Our little pocket devices have evolved and have extended their usefulness beyond our circle of friends and family; they play a crucial role in business communications, with an increasing reliance on smartphones for work collaboration.
Which makes the data they hold prime targets for opportunistic thieves and cybercriminals.
As the security firm Kaspersky put it: “As usage of 5G increases, and more devices become dependent on the connectivity it provides, attackers will have a greater incentive to look for vulnerabilities that they can exploit.”
With smartphone versatility ever increasing — everything from tracking inventory, to managing logistics, to scanning cheques and parcels, to monitoring health conditions and vitals — they have become essential across all industry sectors.
This is why the significance of safeguarding data on smartphones cannot be understated and why you should take practical strategies to ensure the security of these data-driven devices.
Smartphone Backup: Safeguard Your Data
Whether it’s letting a loved one know that we will be late home or having the ability to ensure our children can get in touch with us in an emergency – our smartphones are on standby waiting to provide that vital reassuring link, with more than 250m Americans using them in 2023.
Whether we primarily use our devices for video calls via Zoom or Teams, emailing clients, or approving a transaction within a banking app, you would agree that securing our smartphones is of utmost importance in today’s digital age.
As Soon as You Get Your Phone (The Second Best Time Is Today!)
As responsible owners of these devices, how can we ensure we have taken all the necessary precautions?
- The first step is to back up the data stored on our smartphones. This is crucial in case our devices are lost or stolen. We must set up a backup schedule when we take our smartphones out of the box or at the earliest opportunity.Setting it up without delay is imperative, whether it’s iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive. Doing so lets us safeguard our valuable data and have peace of mind, knowing it’s always protected.
- Find My Device and Encryption is another essential feature to configure on your smartphone. Again, set these up without delay. Once you’ve enabled the tracking and remote wipe functionality, you will have peace of mind knowing that if your device is lost or stolen, you can either find your device or delete all data on the missing device remotely.Encryption adds another layer of security and ensures that data on a device will remain unreadable unless accessed by the official owner.
Smartphone Security: Updating Your Digital Life
These days, you’ve no sooner applied the latest update, only to find another one waiting to install! You must act quickly to apply new updates to your device each time you receive one of those annoying update notifications.
Please remember that promptly applying these updates protects your smartphone from newly discovered vulnerabilities, ensures your device remains secure, and occasionally provides new or improved functionality.
Best Practices for Securing Your Mobile Device
- Install Antivirus software and keep it up to date; configuring the settings to perform daily vulnerability scans will prevent malware intrusion from ruining your day.
- When installing a new app, whether for gaming or productivity, it’s crucial to read the reviews first. Only download the App from trusted sources to ensure you are downloading the official, safe version of an app. Reputable sources include the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
- Remember to grant access permissions necessary for the App to function. Review the permissions periodically.
- It’s good practice to remove unused apps: Smartphones will usually prompt you to perform this action.
- If you’re an iOS devotee, do not Jailbreak your device. If you are an Android user, do not apply Rooting to your device.Whether Jailbreaking or Rooting a device to enable you to install pirated software, be warned that you are increasing the attack surface of your device. Plus, you’ll find that banking apps won’t install on a phone that has been modified in this way.
However tempting it might seem at the time, you must remain vigilant and refrain from downloading random installation files from untrusted website links or from developers you don’t know.
These download sources are often modified to include malicious versions of an application. The malicious code in these files can compromise your device’s security by spying on your activities or stealing sensitive data.
Protect your business and personal information by sticking to trusted sources for app downloads and not interfering with the operation of your device: Jailbreak or Root at your peril!
Strengthen Your Smartphone Security With Unique Passwords and Biometric Access
Are you taking the necessary steps to ensure the utmost security for your smartphone? One crucial aspect is the strength of your passwords or passphrases. It is vital to use unique and robust combinations that make it nearly impossible for anyone to guess. Doing so significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access to your device.
Enhance the security of your device by implementing Biometric access and setting up a password or passphrase. This added layer of defence can involve a straightforward thumb scan or facial recognition technology to access your smartphone. By incorporating these advanced authentication methods, you can bolster the protection of your device and safeguard sensitive personal and business information.
To boost the security of your Apps and data, consider implementing Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). This reliable method adds an extra layer of protection by requiring users to provide two forms of identification before accessing sensitive information. By incorporating 2FA, you can enhance the security of your mobile business applications and safeguard valuable data from unauthorized access.
Imagine this scenario
You wake up one morning to find your LinkedIn account hacked. All your professional connections, work history, and personal information are now in the hands of an unauthorized individual. The impact on your professional reputation and the potential misuse of your data is overwhelming.
In the LinkedIn app, you can set up Biometric security. This feature adds an extra layer of protection to your account, even if you have a weak password on your device or someone has obtained your login information via social engineering, such as a Shoulder surfing attack. I recommend enabling this additional security step on your applications whenever possible to prevent the abovementioned situation.
Take a break. You’ll probably need one during your busy working day; find a lovely coffee shop, enjoy a refreshing cup of your favorite brew, and at the same time, you can catch up on the latest news and sports results, send an email or two, order a new outfit and even check your bank account.
!WARNING!
I strongly advise against using public Wi-Fi hotspots for sensitive tasks like banking or using eCommerce sites.
While it may be convenient to use the free Wi-Fi, it can also be a breeding ground for cybercriminals.
It’s always best to err on the side of caution and use a secure connection, such as the 4G or 5G on your smartphone, whenever possible.
If you must use public Wi-Fi, consider encrypting your connection with a VPN app to protect your data from potential threats. Remember, it’s better to be safe than sorry regarding online security.
Unveiling the Dark Side of Bluetooth
Turn Bluetooth off if you don’t need it switched on. Doing this will avoid a malicious hacker seated nearby attempting to pair their device with yours.
While it’s great for pairing with your earbuds or headphones to listen to an audiobook or your favorite tunes, Bluetooth has a few security risks, including eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks, and unauthorized access to your device’s files and data, you could even be sent unsolicited messages.
Bluetooth Attacks Explained
Bluejacking: Bluejacking is a well-known Bluetooth attack often employed for mischievous purposes. While it may not be a highly impactful attack, hackers frequently use it to flood compromised devices with spam messages. It’s important to note that Bluejacking does not grant hackers access to the Bluetooth-connected device or its data.
Bluesnarfing: This Bluetooth attack can give hackers unrestricted access to your device and all its precious data. Even scarier is that Bluesnarfing can be executed without you knowing, even if you’ve enabled the supposedly safe, undiscoverable mode. Once your device falls victim to Bluesnarfing, hackers can get their hands on everything stored inside. Nothing is off-limits, from cherished photos and phone numbers to sensitive emails.
Bluebugging: This sneaky technique allows hackers to infiltrate a device and gain complete control. Once inside, they can snoop on phone calls, emails, and messages and even surf the web without detection. Worse, they can make phone calls without the user ever suspecting a thing. These attacks primarily target older, outdated devices.
Take Control of Your Smartphone Services
Location Services: One of the most power-consuming smartphone features is the location services. While it can be handy for mapping and navigation apps, keeping it enabled at all times drains your battery significantly. If you don’t frequently use location-based apps, consider turning off this service. You can always enable it when needed.
Push Email: Push email is a service that automatically pushes new emails to your device as soon as they arrive in your inbox. While this feature is convenient for those needing real-time email notifications, if you don’t require immediate email updates, consider switching to manual email sync or increasing the sync interval to conserve battery.
Background App Refresh: Background App Refresh is a feature that allows apps to update their content in the background even when they are not actively in use. While it can be helpful in some apps, it consumes significant processing power and battery life.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: If you’re not actively using them, it’s advisable to turn them off to conserve battery life. These services constantly search for available networks or devices to connect to, causing unnecessary battery drain. Turning them off reduces the attack surface of your device.
Auto-sync: Auto-sync is a service that automatically synchronizes your data, such as contacts, calendar events, and app data, with the cloud or other devices. Disable auto-sync for apps that you don’t require frequent synchronization with.
The Bottom Line
If you don’t realize the gravity of the situation, consider the critical nature of the information stored on your phone. If your phone is stolen or hacked, cybercriminals can gain access to a wealth of valuable data.
The data includes passwords stored in your web browser’s autofill feature, contacts from your Address book, a list of recent files saved by your operating system, and deleted files that can be recovered (until the storage space is overwritten).
Text messages exchanged on your phone, call logs of your phone calls, and recent GPS locations recorded by photos and navigation apps.
Bank account details from downloaded PDF bank statements, credit card numbers saved in your web browser’s autofill, and name and address information from your contacts.
The websites recently visited are stored in your browser’s cache, and even your social security number from downloaded tax documents.
Protecting our phones and securing our personal information is crucial to prevent unauthorized access to our sensitive data. We must take the necessary steps to keep our phones and confidential information secure to avoid any potential breaches or intrusions.
You can effectively safeguard your digital life by staying informed and taking the necessary steps to enhance your security.
Remember, knowledge is power! Don’t wait for a breach to happen; act now and prioritize the security of your smartphone and, ultimately, your digital life.
