These days, we’re all so tethered to our smartphones that there’s a wealth of articles out there about how to unplug, or just find balance. We say, we know you’re attached to your phone to communicate with family and friends, and for work. Accept it, but be sure to protect yourself!
That’s why while we’re still in the middle of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (this October), we thought it would be a good time to share more tips to help everyone keep their mobile devices secure. Here are some tips to keep your smartphone safe from hackers. You can also use these tips to protect your laptop and tablet, too.
Tip #1: Turn off your GPS and location functions. If you post pictures online that you’ve taken on a smartphone, the photo data file will contain an IP address that can be used to find you, unless you turn off this function. Never take smartphone pictures and post them to social media sites without having changed your privacy settings, to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Tip #2: Turn off your phone’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings. Keeping these features on can make is easy for anyone to access your phone – especially when you’re in a public place. Hackers can spoof local networks, and trick your phone into connecting to their own (fake) Wi-Fi hotspots.
Tip #3: Password protect all your mobile devices, and use a two-step authentication program to have a temporary password sent to your phone when you log in to an account from new devices. Are you logged into email, Facebook, or other private accounts on your smartphone? If your phone is lost or stolen, you’ve granted easy access to ALL of your information.
Tip #4: Use HTTPS on every website. This one should be a no-brainer for most of us, but it bears repeating. You must be sure that all of the information going between your computer and website through your browser is encrypted.
Tip #5: Don’t ‘Allow” websites to use your location. The apps that capture your data can be used to track your movements.
And as always, if you need more tech information give us a call at INTELITECHS!