Phone Security

Precautions
There are precautions you can take
regarding cell phone security and we’re
here to share them with you. Ultimately,
we want everyone to be safe from
hackers, security attacks and thieves and
the first step is to learn about what you
can do immediately to prevent these
things.
1. Use the Home
Screen Lock
The easiest thing to do first is to use
your home screen lock. Most cellphone
have this feature so you can set a
password to unlock your phone. This
password can be a pattern drawn or a
code entered. This type of security
measure prevents any layperson from
picking up your phone and having
immediate access to it. Unfortunately,
professional thieves are able to hack into
your phone past this security measure. So
although using a home screen lock may
prevent snooping family and friends it will
not protect you against other suspicious
people.
2. Check Your
SmartPhone Privacy
Settings
Most of us are anxious when we get a
new smartphone. We jump straight into
using it without ever checking the default
settings. These settings can control how
much information is shared, when it
should be shared and whether it’s shared
on an unsecure connection. Find your
phone’s settings and check to see what
they are set to.
3. Surf Prudently
We all surf the web on our smartphones
and just like surfing the web on a
computer, there are still pop-ups, scripts,
malware and other viruses that can be
contracted on your device. Making a
purchase with your credit card or logging
into your financial account through your
phone can be catastrophic. Text on
mobile phones is extremely small and it’s
easy to go to the wrong site and enter
your credentials. These sites could be
malicious so be extra cautious when
entering your personal data.
4. Use Only Secure
WiFi Connections
Unsecured Wifi can always be dangerous.
You should never enter any personal data
if you are on an unsecured network.
Information sent through these networks
can be intercepted and “spied” on by
anyone. Once your data is hacked people
can access your email, user names and
passwords, online banking information and
more. If you must use an unsecure Wifi
connection, keep your activity to things
that you wouldn’t mind being shared or
work only with sites that provide SSL
security.
5. Limit Who Uses
Your Network
Even if you have a secure personal
network connection you’re not safe.
Obviously this is better than an unsecured
network but that doesn’t prevent people
from hacking your network. It’s not fun
saying “no” to the person asking for
access to your network but for your
safety you should. Keep your network
trusted by granting access to the fewest
number of people possible.
6. Consider Using a
VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) can help
protect your device when you are on
public Wifi. VPN’s work by directing all
Internet traffic from your phone through
an encrypted pathway so that
eavesdroppers cannot access personal
information that is sent through non-
encrypted methods. VPN’s ensure that
passwords remain hidden and also allow
users the option to access network
resources remotely through their phone.
7. Backup Your Data
It’s important to back up data on all
devices periodically to prevent loss.
Backing up your smartphone is easy for
the most part. Just plug your phone into
a computer and click “sync data”. Again,
make sure you are on a secure network
when you do so or backing up your data
could be dangerous.
8. Keep Track of Your
Serial Number
It used to be said that keeping track of
your mobile phone’s serial number would
give you the chance to disable your
phone in the event that it was stolen.
Whether this trick actually works on more
modern smartphones is still up for debate
but it is definitely worth knowing.
Typically, you can find your phone’s serial
number by dialing *#06# . This should
result in a 15 digit code displaying on the
screen which is your phone’s serial
number. If your cellular phone is ever lost
or stolen and you know you will not be
able to get it back, call your cellular
phone provider with this number. By using
this serial number your phone company
will be able to block your phone
completely making it unusable to anyone.
Even phones that utilize a SIM card
system like AT&T can be disabled and will
not be reactivated even with a new SIM
card. The downside to this tip is that
there is no real way to tell which mobile
phones it works on or whether a cellular
company would be willing to follow
through with blocking the phone