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General discussion

Guide to Mobile Protection!

May 19, 2017 5:21AM PDT

Mobile phones are a virtual reflection of our lives. We use them to stay in touch, take pictures, shop, bank, listen to music, and socialize. We use them for almost everything, accumulate personal and professional information on them and hence they have both a high financial and emotional value. With the increasing importance of smartphones, they are the newest attractions to attackers. Losing, or having your phone hacked or attacked can be a great inconvenience, as it is not really about losing your mobile device, which can be easily replaced, but you could also lose the sensitive information you had stored on it, including account numbers and soft copies of confidential paperwork. It is worrying that 32% of people believe that they don’t need security software for their mobile devices. Mobile security is of utmost importance nowadays. Let us go through some ways in which we can ensure that our mobile devices, and more importantly, our important information are safeguarded well, in case any calamity should strike. If you want to ensure that your device isn’t meddled with, corrupted, hacked, or manipulated in some other way, you’d do well to regard these tips and tricks.

1. Mobile insurance: Mobile Insurance is always an optional added purchase, but it provides one with peace of mind against any probable mishaps. In case your phone suffers any physical accidental damage like drops, cracks, liquid spills, etc., mechanical and electronic failures, as well as loss or theft, mobile insurance comes to your rescue.
2. Lock Your Screen: There is no denying the fact a locked phone will most probably not prevent your phone from being stolen. However, locking your screen is a preliminary and the basic minimum thing one can do to add a simple and effective security layer to their device which an average thief will be unable to bypass.
3. Set Passwords on Apps: Apart from the screen lock, it is preferable that one sets passwords and user privileges for the various applications so that one can avert the prying eyes and curiosity which can lead to people wanting to snoop into your phone. One can benefit significantly from this added layer of protection.
4. Use Secured Networks: Open networks and public Wifi networks can be tempting but by using this, one invariantly exposes themselves to hackers and viruses. Should you need to use your phone anyway, consider limiting your use to such things as playing games or surfing the Web. Tasks like online banking, E-commerce, etc., where personal information are required are best left for a secure, password-protected WiFi network.
5. Install Anti-virus Software: Even in the mobile era, most people are still under the impression that anti-virus softwares are only for laptops and desktop computers. However, there are a multitude of anti-virus apps available for mobile devices that can protect against malware, viruses, and hacking attempts. It is an age and time when one should seriously consider getting a good anti-virus app for your phone or tablet.
6. Only Download Apps from Trusted Sources: While downloading apps for your Android or Apple device, one should stick to credible and trusted sources like iTunes, Google Play, or the App Store. There are many Apps in the internet which carry malware and it is not advisable to take the risk of downloading an app that might be from a questionable source.
7. Back up your data: It is one of those things which are easy to forget but are incredibly important in the long run. Mobile devices are now easy to back up, and the people who back up their devices regularly are less likely to lose data. With the over-the-air syncing and iCloud backups it is really easy to restore your phone.
Many of us have comfortably fallen into a false sense of security when it comes to our mobile devices, and we believe that devices are safe with us, are invulnerable and immune to attack. And time and again, this has been established false. A mobile devices does not come cheap, but can be replaced with a new one. However, our sensitive information like pictures, bank information, messages etc. can fall in wrong hands and bring in a whole new set of problems. Taking the simple steps outlined above can go a long way towards securing your device from threats. Abiding with these steps can prevent us from falling prey to the menace of possible threats.

Discussion is locked

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Good ideas there.
May 19, 2017 7:06AM PDT

But I found anti-virus to be more trouble rather than a fix. I think your item 7 is more important as I've getting a lot of pleas for data recovery now.

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Back-up
May 22, 2017 12:18AM PDT

Yes,I agree, back up is a must!

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good points!
May 19, 2017 8:34AM PDT

that is a great help, but what do you think about the security smartphones?

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Helpful
May 22, 2017 12:18AM PDT

Hi, I am glad you liked it! Security smartphones makes our life a lot easier for sure and eliminate any snoopy eye situations.

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Helpful!
May 21, 2017 11:23PM PDT

This was really helpful...

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Nice
May 22, 2017 12:16AM PDT

Hi Pooja,
I am glad you found this helpful!

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Useful Tips!
May 21, 2017 11:31PM PDT

The 6th point is really true as i have experienced this myself, downloading various unwanted apps just to check them out. I'm more aware now.

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nice!
May 22, 2017 12:15AM PDT

Hi Sona,
I am glad you found this helpful!