5 tips to secure your smartphone and prevent hackers from stealing your data
SINGAPORE - The modern smartphone is
a powerful portable computer, giving
users the ability to make purchases
online and perform banking
transactions.
But like any computer, your smartphone
can be targeted and compromised by
hackers, which can be a painful and
costly lesson.
Hackers can gain access to private data,
including credit card information, and
even intercept passwords sent by banks
by infecting phones with malware -
programs that can scan your phone for
information and send them to hackers
without you realising.
Here are some ways to keep your phone
safe:
1. DO NOT OPEN E-MAIL LINKS OR
ATTACHMENTS FROM UNKNOWN SENDERS
One of the most common way hackers
spread their malware is by sending e-
mails with attachments that contain
malicious code. The e-mails can sound
innocent but the attachments could
potentially infect your phone.
2. DO NOT CLICK ON POP-UP ADS OR
'CLICKBAIT' POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
This is another way hackers spread their
malware. When a user clicks on a pop-
up ad or on a post with a particularly
alluring title, they may be redirected to a
website that downloads malware onto
the phone.
3. DO NOT INSTALL THIRD-PARTY APPS THAT
ARE NOT FROM THE APP STORE
Both Apple and Google screen apps in
their app stores for malicious code.
Although it's not foolproof - Apple
recently removed 4,000 apps found to
contain malware from their app store in
September 2015 - the apps there are
safer than apps found in forums or
dodgy sites on the Internet.
iOS users may not need to worry about
this as Apple does not allow users to
install apps from any source outside
their official store unless the iPhone is
modified or jailbroken.
Android users, however, are more at risk
as the operating system does allow users
to install third-party apps.
Users who want to stay safe and refuse
access to third-party apps can refuse
permissions to install them. This can be
done by going into Settings ->Security ->
Uncheck "Unknown Sources: Allow
installation of apps from sources other
than the Play Store".
4. OPT FOR ONE-TIME PASSWORDS TO BE
GENERATED BY A SECURITY TOKEN RATHER
THAN RECEIVING THEM VIA SMS
Security tokens are safer than mobile
phones as they are isolated devices that
malware cannot reach.
They may be inconvenient, but if
hackers do not have access to the OTPs,
their transactions cannot go through.
5. CHECK YOUR PHONE FOR MALWARE WITH
AN ANTI-VIRUS APP
If you suspect your phone has malware,
you can run an anti-virus app that will
check for common variants of malware.
You can download such anti-virus apps
from either Apple's or Google's App
Store. To be even safer, go for apps by
trusted companies, such as AVG, Avast,
Norton or Kaspersky.
Experts say that anti-virus software is
unnecessary for most mobile users as
long as they have practised safe surfing
habits and do not click on suspicious
links or download unauthorised apps.
0 comments:
Post a Comment