In the past your mobile phone just stored phone numbers and maybe a few text messages. If you lost it or it was stolen it was an inconvenience, but not the end of the world. Today it’s a different story though. Mobile devices store so much more than just phone numbers. They are windows into our personal and business lives and if it falls into the wrong hands there could be big trouble. So here’s a brief look at mobile security and what you can do to protect everything that’s stored on your device.
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Why do we need mobile security?
Smartphones and other mobile devices hold so much information about us. If yours was stolen what could the thief learn about you from your mobile device? Obviously some people use their smartphones for a lot more than others but here are just a few things a thief could have access to: social media accounts, banking and financial information, private telephone numbers and email addresses, emails, messaging, photos, and passwords. Mobile security helps to protect all this information in case your phone is stolen, limiting the amount a thief can extract from it, and limiting their own use of the phone. But mobile security isn’t just about actual thefts; what about virtual theft of your phone via virus and malware? You also need to consider apps that will protect your device from malicious software and virtual attackers. So what can you do?
Lock Down Your Device
The first line of defence is to lock down your device. This can be as simple as a PIN that you have to key in every time you want to use the phone. A 4-digit PIN will help as long as it’s not totally obvious (like 1234), but a longer PIN that includes letters and numbers will give you much better protection because it is less easily guessed. There are other lines of defence as well though – fingerprint recognition is gaining in popularity, but there’s also facial recognition. If these types of security can be guaranteed to work on your phone, they are far better than pin numbers.
Security Apps
The next line of defence is security apps. There are thousands of apps out there that promise superior levels of protection for your mobile device, but how good are they? Before making a decision on a particular app look at reviews to see what other users think of the service provided, and consider which options you’d like to have on your own device.
For example, some virus protection apps give a lot more than just virus protection. The best ones allow to do such things as remotely lock your phone and SIM card, wipe important information from the device, and to activate the GPS chip that’s built into your phone so that it can be tracked and found. Two of the better rated mobile security apps are McAfee Mobile Security and Kaspersky Internet Security for Android. Both of these have a yearly subscription fee but if it means complete protection for your phone it is arguably worth the cost. Having said this, McAfee now offers a free version of its software so this is definitely worth looking in to.