Top 5 Tips to Secure Your Devices
Do you own more than one mobile device? Most of us do because it is the digital age where we spend a lot of time on our smart phones, tablets or laptops but also depend on them to store important and highly sensitive data.
As you increasingly store sensitive data on your mobile devices, the opportunity to exploit privacy weaknesses becomes more tempting to anyone from unscrupulous frenemies, exes or the occasional stranger. So, what can you do to protect your gadgets?
Top 5 Tips to Secure Your Devices
1. Protect your password
We usually go for the simplest password that’s easy to remember. Fact – Passwords can be simple but it needs to be strong. It does not have to be random, you can use a combination of your name with numbers in between the alphabet. For example:
Weak Password: ahmadabu90
Strong password: @[email protected]
You may also test your password strength using this link http://www.passwordmeter.com. If your password is weak, change it NOW!
2. NEVER download unknown or crack apps
Most people look for free options when it comes to applications. Some can even be tempted to download unknown, cracked or illegal apps that can be a security risk in more ways than you might imagine.
Do you know that 99% of these applications contain malicious codes that are running in the background? These applications can secretly install backdoor to your devices, steal our data or even install bots without your permission. If you love your data, don’t even think of installing unknown or crack applications.
3. Avoid unsecured public Wi-Fi
Speaking of freebies, we all love free internet. So do hackers. They often target important data such as bank accounts via public Wi-Fi that can often be unsecured due to lenient safety standards or even none at all.
Another threat is interception. While you working at a cafe using public Wi-Fi, another person can connect to the same Wi-Fi and sniff the traffic. From there, they can steal your packets. Imagine when you are sending your boss that big tender, someone else intercepts it and steal it from you!
4. Use a VPN
By far the most effective trick for staying safe on public Wi-Fi is to install a VPN or Virtual Private Network client on your devices. It encrypts data traveling to and from your laptop or phone, and hooks you up to a secure server—essentially making it harder for other people on the network, or whoever is operating the network, to see what you’re doing or grab your details.
5. Manage your device
Managing your mobile devices sound easy yet many still fail to do it. All you need to do is simply log and record other users of your device. Create restrictions on your device so other users using it will not abuse your device. This is as easy as creating another user account or put limitations so that you can track the activity of your devices.
We hope that you will also remember to prevent stored critical personal data from being accessed by regularly deleting your browsing history, cookies, and cache. Remember, removing your virtual footprint is important in minimising the amount of data that can be harvested by prying eyes.