Five ways to protect yourself from hackers.

It goes without saying that smartphone usage has become increasingly popular in contemporary times. In fact, for most people around the world, smartphones have become their most important and most prized electronic gadget.

It is common knowledge that too many people, especially young ones, now own a smartphone and those who don’t have the gadget yet, keep striving really hard to lay hands on one. In fact it is estimated that no less than two billion people around the world now own a smartphone each. The number is expected to keep growing with each day.

A Target For Hackers

Apparently the growth and spread of smartphone usage has made the device one of the most sought pieces of technological gadgets available at the moment.

However, this has also made it one of the biggest targets of hackers who try by all means to get into people’s virtual private places just to gather sensitive information to use against them.

This is why it is very important to make your smartphone hack-proof in order to keep the bad people away.

How To Protect Your Smartphone

There are certain tips you should keep in mind when you are trying to protect your smartphone from hackers. Below are some of those ways.

1. Do Not Joke With Your Updates

This may come across as a no-brainer but it is very important and you should not joke with it at all. Those updates that you keep ignoring whenever they pop up on your phones may just be what you need to keep hackers away from you.

Most smartphones alert their users to update certain apps and features in them but even if your does not alert you to perform any update, it is highly advisable to visit an app store and install the important updates on your mobile just as soon as they are available.

This is because refusing to update your phone leaves it with a lot of vulnerabilities which hackers can exploit in breaking into your phone.

2. Make It Difficult For Intruders To Secure Access Into Your Phone

This is a good one. Do not make it easy for people to have access into your phone. Make sure you have it locked. This is because if a thief or hacker gets their hands physically on your phone, they can use it cause a lot of damage that may end up ruining you in the long run.

Your SMS, emails and other areas in your phone may contain too much information that should not be seen by anyone, not to talk of a hardened thief. So keep it locked.

Usually your smartphone allows you to have a six-digit passcode with which you can lock your phone. Other options are also available such as facial recognition or even fingerprints. Use any of them to keep your phone safe.

However, be warned that these methods are not altogether perfect. This is because any hacker determined to cause havoc can still gain access into your phone with these locks in place. But it goes a long way to get your phones locked up.

3. Be Very Careful With The Kind Of Things You Install On Your Phone

Many times when you install an app in your phone, you will get requests to allow it access sensitive areas of your device such as your camera, your files and even your microphone. This unhindered access to your phone, even though legitimate sometimes, can end up making it very prone to abuse.

It has been revealed that many malicious apps now appear on some app stores and remain there unnoticed for months. During this time, they can infiltrate a lot of phones by enticing users with their mouth-watering, yet malicious features.

The bottom line is that you must be very careful with the kind of things you allow into your phone by checking and reading everything that comes with it before letting it in your device. Also don’t download anything unless if it is from a familiar website.

4. Plan Ahead To Track And Lock Your Phone

This is a plan for remedy if you phone gets stolen. Apparently, no one knows when thieves can strike hard and disappear with your phone, leaving you dazed. So you can plan ahead on what to do when that happens.

As a Smartphone user, you can set your phone to automatically delete itself after a particular number of wrong attempts to type in your password by an outsider. You can activate this feature especially if the phone contains files that are super-sensitive.

However if you think that this method is too harsh, there are other things you can do. Remember that the two giants of mobile technology, Apple and Google, have services that will aid you in tracking your phone if it has been physically taken away by thieves. These services are called “find my devices” and you can set them up on your phone.

If you are an Apple user, you can access these services on the iCloud website and if you are using Android, you can access the service of Google at google.co.uk/android/devicemanager.

5. Stay Away From Public Wifi

You may not have realised it before, but it is a proven fact that wifi hotspots in public places are easy targets for hacking gurus.

These people who have great hacking skills can see exactly what you do online as you work. They can even see your emails, your financial data and even your login information with which they can log in into your social media accounts and then proceed to cause serious havoc. Beware!

These hackers are just everywhere and they have gotten more desperate by the day.

The best way to protect yourself from these menace is to just stay away from connecting into a public wifi. But if you feel you need it desperate for something you want to do online, make sure that you connect through a VPN tool which can encrypt your activity online. This is the best way to go online via a public wifi hotspot.

If your smartphone is up to date, you should have VPN apps available and you can use this to make it impossible for anyone to track you online.