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Engaging online is part of everyday life. From the moment we wake we are connecting, sharing and accessing services that make our lives easier. By securing your personal devices you can maintain a positive online experience and get on with the fun stuff. The handy tips in this section can help you protect your devices including your phone, tablet, computer and most importantly your information!
There’s little rest for your hard-working smartphone. If you’re like many professionals today, you use it for work, play, and a mix of personal business in between. Now, what if something went wrong with that phone, like loss or theft? Worse yet, what if your smartphone got hacked? Let’s try and keep that from happening to you. Globally, plenty of people pull double duty with their smartphones. In Spain, one survey found that 55% of people use the same phone for a mix of personal and and work activity. The same survey showed that up to half of people interviewed in Japan, Australia, and the U.S. do so as well, while nations like the UK and Germany trailed at 31% and 23% respectively. Whether these figures trend on the low or high end, the security implications remain constant. A smartphone loaded with business and personal data makes for a desirable target. Hackers target smartphones because they’re often unprotected, which gives hackers an easy “in” to your personal information and to any corporate networks you may use. It’s like two hacks with one stone. Put simply, as a working professional with a smartphone, you’re a high-value target. Protect your smartphone from being hackedAs both a parent and a professional, I put together a few things you can do to protect your smartphone from hacks so that you can keep your personal and work life safe: 1. Add extra protection with your face, finger, pattern, or PIN.First up, the basics. Locking your phone with facial ID, a fingerprint, pattern or a pin is your most basic form of protection, particularly in the event of loss or theft. (Your options will vary depending on the device, operating system, and manufacturer.) Take it a step further for even more protection. Secure the accounts on your phone with strong passwords and use two-factor authentication on the apps that offer it, which doubles your line of defense. 2. Use a VPN.Or, put another way, don’t hop onto public Wi-Fi networks without protection. A VPN masks your connection from hackers allowing you to connect privately when you are on unsecure public networks at airports, cafes, hotels, and the like. With a VPN connection, you’ll know that your sensitive data, documents, and activities you do are protected from snooping, which is definitely a great feeling given the amount of personal and professional business we manage with our smartphones. 3. Stick to the official app stores for your apps.Both Google Play and Apple’s App Store have measures in place to help prevent potentially dangerous apps from making it into their stores. Malicious apps are often found outside of the app stores, which can run in the background and compromise your personal data like passwords, credit card numbers, and more—practically everything that you keep on your phone. Further, when you are in the app stores, look closely at the descriptions and reviews for apps before you download them. Malicious apps and counterfeits can still find their way into stores, and here are a few ways you can keep those bad apps from getting onto your phone. 4. Back up the data on your phone.Backing up your phone is always a good idea for two reasons:
Both iPhones and Android phones have straightforward ways of backing up your phone regularly. 5. Learn how to lock or wipe your phone remotely in case of emergency.Worst case scenario—your phone is gone. Really gone. Either it’s hopelessly lost or got stolen. What now? Lock it remotely or even wipe its data entirely. While that last bit about wiping the phone seems like a drastic move, if you maintain regular backups as mentioned above, your data is secure in the cloud—ready for you to restore. In all, this means that hackers won’t be able to access you, or your company’s, sensitive information—which can keep you out of trouble and your professional business safe. Apple provides iOS users with a step-by-step guide for remotely wiping devices, and Google offers up a guide for Android users as well. 6. Get rid of old apps—and update the ones you keep.We all download apps, use them once, and then forget they are on our phone. Take a few moments to swipe through your screen and see which ones you’re truly done with and delete them along with their data. Some apps have an account associated with them that may store data off your phone as well. Take the extra step and delete those accounts so any off-phone data is deleted. The reason for this is that every extra app is another app that needs updating or that may have a security issue associated with it. In a time of data breaches and vulnerabilities, deleting old apps is a smart move. As for the ones you keep, update them regularly and turn on auto-updates if that’s an option. Updates not only introduce new features to apps, but they also often address security issues too. 7. Protect your phone.With so much of your life on your phone, getting security software installed on it can protect you and the things you keep on your phone. Whether you’re an Android owner or iOS owner, mobile security software can keep your data, your shopping, and payments secure.
Enjoy safer mobile devices with all-in-one protection Download now for iOS & AndroidProtect your privacy, your data and your peace of mind with this guide to beating thieves, whether they’re online or on the street As we’ve recently seen from leaked CIA documents, no one is immune to hacking attacks. Here’s how to protect yourself against them, whether they come from opportunist thieves or state-sponsored spies. When it comes to protecting yourself against hackers, step one is always to install software updates as soon as they become available: that’s as true on smartphones as it is on computers. Yes, updating can be a tiresome and intrusive process, and it sometimes brings annoying changes to the interface that you’re used to. All the same, a huge proportion of successful hacks exploit vulnerabilities that have already been patched; exposing yourself unnecessarily is just daft. I’d also strongly advise against using unofficial tools to “root” your phone (known as “jailbreaking” on iOS), unless you know exactly what you’re doing. On a rooted phone, technical safeguards can be defeated, allowing apps to perform all sorts of actions that are normally prohibited – and that can include snooping on your personal data. When you install a smartphone app, you may be asked to grant it various permissions, including the ability to read your files, access your camera or listen in to your microphone. There are legitimate uses for these capabilities, but they’re potentially open to abuse: think before you approve the request. That applies especially to Android users, as Google’s app-vetting process isn’t as strict as Apple’s, and there have been reports of malicious apps spending months on the Play Store before being spotted and taken down. Android also lets you install apps from third-party sources: this allows services such as Amazon’s competing Appstore to operate, but it also provides an easy way for rogue apps to get onto your phone. I’d strongly advise against installing anything from an unfamiliar website. Even if the apps on your phone seemed simple and safe when you installed them, subsequent updates could have turned them into something more sinister. Take two minutes to review all the apps on your smartphone, and see which permissions they’re using: on iOS, you’ll find lots of relevant information under Settings > Privacy. On Android, it’s harder to get an overview of which apps have which permissions, but there are plenty of security apps that help here, including free packages from Avast and McAfee. These tools can also jump in and alert you if you’re trying to install an app that’s known to be malicious, and warn you if a “phishing” attack is trying to trick you into entering a password into an untrusted app or webpage. If a thief gets physical access to your phone, they can cause all sorts of trouble. For a start, your email app probably contains a trove of personal information. Make sure your phone is locked when not in use: both Android and iOS can be set to require a six-digit passcode. Your device may offer other options too, like fingerprints or facial recognition. Such methods aren’t perfect – a really determined hacker could copy your fingerprints from a drinking glass, or trick a camera with a photograph of you – but they’re a lot better than nothing. And be wary of “smart unlock” features, which automatically unlock your phone when you’re at home, or when your smartwatch is near; these could let a thief bypass your unlock code altogether. Plan ahead, so even if your phone is stolen, you know your data is safe. One option is to set your phone to automatically erase itself after a certain number of incorrect attempts to enter the passcode. If that seems a bit drastic, don’t forget that both Apple and Google operate “find my device” services that can locate your phone on a map, and remotely lock or erase it. For Apple users, this is accessed through the iCloud website – you can check it’s enabled on the phone in Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone. Android users can access Google’s service at google.co.uk/android/devicemanager. You can also make a missing phone ring – helpful for drawing attention to the thief, or tracking down a handset that’s been merely mislaid. We all know there's a risk involved in using an open wireless network. But you may not realise how severe it isAuto-login is a very convenient feature, especially since a virtual keyboard can make typing passwords a chore. It’s also a huge liability: an intruder simply needs to open your browser to gain access to all your online accounts. Ideally, therefore, you shouldn’t use auto-login features at all. If you must, use a password manager app that requires you to regularly re-enter a master password. And don’t use the same password for more than one app or service: if that one password gets found out, it can be used to access a whole range of private information. This applies even if you’re perfectly scrupulous about keeping your smartphone secure: hackers regularly break into online services to steal user credentials, which they then try out on other sites. If you’ve followed this advice so far, it should be very difficult for anyone to get into your phone. However, some major hacks have been pulled off without any access to the victim at all. If someone can find out (for example) your date of birth, home town and mother’s maiden name – all stuff that can be easily picked up from a site like Facebook – that’s often all they need to reset a password and start breaking into your accounts. You can see off such attacks by fictionalising your past with details that are unlikely to be guessed; perhaps, for the purposes of security, you were born in 1999 to Mrs Victoria Beckham, née Adams. Just remember what you claimed, or you could end up locking yourself out. If you’re at all doubtful about a wireless network, don’t connect – stick with your phone’s mobile internet connection. Or use a VPN tool such as CyberGhost or TunnelBear (both available free for Android and iOS). These tools route your traffic through a private encrypted channel, so even if someone is monitoring your traffic they won’t be able to see what you’re up to. Lots of apps pop up messages and notifications on your phone’s lockscreen. It’s worth thinking about what these notifications may reveal. If you work for a big banking company, for example, a visible email from a work colleague or a meeting reminder tells a thief that this might be a particularly interesting phone to steal. On iOS, also consider disabling access to Siri from the lockscreen. Siri isn’t supposed to give away personal information before you enter your passcode to unlock the iPhone, but past hacks have let intruders use Siri to unlock the device, access details of contacts and view photos. It’s safest to shut the feature off entirely: you’ll find the option under Settings > Touch ID & Passcode > Disable Siri on the Lockscreen. A strong passcode helps keep thieves out of your phone, but what if a stranger snatches your phone while you’re using it? Or asks to borrow it to check a website, then bolts off down the street? On Android, as a second line of defence, you can lock individual apps, so even if someone can get past your lockscreen, they can’t open your email or banking app without a second password. This capability isn’t built into the OS, but there are plenty of free apps that provide it, such as AVG AntiVirus Free. iOS users can’t directly lock individual apps, but check out Folder Lock – free on the App Store – which can password-protect your documents and folders, reducing the amount of information a thief can access. If you’re on the fence about investing in a smartwatch, here’s a little-known feature that could swing it: Apple Watch and Android Wear devices can warn you immediately if they lose Bluetooth contact with your phone. If you get this notification while you’re in a public place, there’s a good chance someone’s just picked your pocket, and is currently making off with your phone. The device will normally be less than 50 metres away when the connection drops, so the warning gives you a chance to ring the phone right away, hopefully drawing attention to the thief and prompting them to jettison it. Failing that, you can lock it before the culprit has a chance to start trying to break in and steal your data. No matter how cautious you are, you can’t completely eradicate the danger of your phone being hacked – not unless you refuse to install any apps or visit any websites. What you can do is supplement your on-device security measures with an online service. LogDog – available for both Android and iOS – is an app that monitors your identity on sites such as Gmail, Dropbox and Facebook. It alerts you to suspicious activity, such as logins from unfamiliar places, giving you a chance to step in and change your credentials before serious harm can be done. As a bonus, LogDog will also scan your email and highlight messages containing sensitive data such as credit card details and passwords, which you can then purge to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands. To security establishment, WikiLeaks' CIA dump is part of US-Russia battle{{#ticker}} {{topLeft}} {{bottomLeft}} {{topRight}} {{bottomRight}} {{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}} {{/ticker}}{{#paragraphs}}{{.}} {{/paragraphs}}{{highlightedText}}{{#choiceCards}}{{/choiceCards}} We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Look out for a message in your inbox in . If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us. Topics
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