A guide with the most practical tips to block the most brazen digital pirates.
You may have heard the horrifying reports of how hackers can sneak right into your private life. These are often portrayed by Hollywood as lanky, anti-social geeks who spend their entire lives in their tech aloof from society, intent on exacting revenge on those who wronged them.
Obviously, this is an exaggerated stereotype and comes up again and again in sci-fi/fantasy movies, but there’s no denying that there are moral-less hackers in the digital world.
Deconstruction of modern Edward Teach
The unavoidable reality is that today there are Blackbeards, Henry Morgans, and Captain Kidds who professionally invade your digital space and use your information for blackmail. Believe it or not, these cyber buccaneers are capable of getting the following information from your devices:
Online security has become an alarming concern with the rise of unsecured data on people’s devices, especially when our smartphones are stolen, lost, or hacked. Consider the vast amount of data that exists.
That’s why we’ve put together a pseudo survival guide to help you block your phone to hackers. Some of these seem pretty obvious, but in a world where we need to protect ourselves from the best hackers, it’s important not to compromise.
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Always keep your phone locked.
Let’s start with the obvious.
Securing your phone with a unique password keeps it safe, but you’d be surprised how much this simple action protects you from hackers.
As a first step, make sure to use a strong unique password. In the event that you lose your phone and you keep sensitive information on it, at least you have the first line of defense
Update your operating system regularly
iOS and Android software updates are never fun.
You already have a long list of things to do anyway, your phone needs to be at 50% battery, and connected to strong WiFi too. This is a big ugh moment for smartphone users, but these operating system updates include important security updates or patches and upgrades.
If you want to keep your phone in good condition and your data safe, then we don’t recommend skipping these updates.
Be careful with public WiFi
It’s a sunny Tuesday morning and you’re on your way to your local cafe for breakfast. You pull out your laptop or phone and connect to the cafe’s public WiFi.
Does this situation sound familiar to you? If so, then please keep in mind that hackers use public WiFi as a common tool to dial into your devices. When you use a public WiFi network, your personal information and web searches are decrypted and can be easily intercepted. It is best to avoid public WLAN networks completely.
If you fall victim to this scam, the hackers can intercept the data between the websites you visit and do whatever they want with it. Probably not a Tuesday morning like you had in mind, right?
Turn off automatic login and password filling
Automatic dial-in and password managers have become super popular with smartphone users overnight after their introduction. How great if you never have to enter a password again. It’s easy, quick, and seemingly hassle-free.
In reality, this automatic dialing increases the risk of your data being compromised. If you lose your phone, have it stolen, or just lend it out for a few seconds, other people can automatically log into your social media profiles and banking apps with ease.
Use Phone Tracking Services
Even the most responsible and organized person can lose their phone unnoticed.
The good thing is that technology has developed phone tracking services that can help you track where your phone is. iPhone users have the Find My iPhone app and Android users have the Find My Device app. Make sure you avail these free services.
Keep personal information in a safe place on your phone
Now the best for last.
In this survival guide, we instructed you to set a unique password and use tracking services. We have also reminded you, as an informed digital citizen, to switch off automatic registration and not to use a public WLAN network.
However, if you want to keep your information completely private, then we recommend that you leave no trace of your personal information on your phone.
Back up your digital data today.
