Are you concerned about protecting your iPhone and Android smartphones from online thieves?
Most of our sensitive and personal information, including passwords and bank accounts, is stored on our smartphones these days. Your personal information could be put at risk if it is not secured or malicious software programs installed.
How can hackers infiltrate your smartphone and steal your personal information?
Here are some practical steps to take, including how you can eradicate malware and a list of top mobile security solutions. Let’s take an in-depth look.
- How do I secure my phone?
You can update your phone’s software, whether it’s installing the latest iOS version for your iPhone or the Android operating system. For example, keeping your iOS updated can prevent all types of viruses from infecting your phone. It will also include all the most recent security features. - Avoid using obvious passwords. For instance it’s easy to forget your birth date, so it’s important to avoid these passwords. Use a mixture of symbols and upper- and lowercase letters, even though they may be more difficult to remember. It would help if you also changed your password as often as possible.
- Wi-Fi hotspots can be dangerous – While everyone enjoys free Wi-Fi, it’s important to verify who provides it. Connecting to a network you don’t recognize, or trust could invite hackers to spy on your social media accounts or interfere with your online banking.
- Be careful when clicking on links. Don’t click on ads telling you to visit websites that you don’t recognize. It can be difficult to identify website addresses on smaller screens, so use caution when surfing the internet with your smartphone.
- What is the best mobile phone security?
Many security software and apps can protect your smartphone from viruses. Many of these apps and software will be recognised as antivirus software for PCs, such as Norton and McAfee.
You can find the one that suits your needs and choose whether to pay extra for additional features or a free version. These are three of the most trusted antivirus programs available to help you get started. - Norton Mobile Security – This iOS security software scans apps downloaded from Google Play before they are installed. It is highly rated by review sites and includes advanced scanning that alerts you to unsecure Wi-Fi networks. It also notifies you if your operating system has become outdated.
- Avast Antivirus for Android – This app is free and will run regular checks to identify threats and vulnerabilities on your Android phone. It also protects your device from malware-infected websites. You can also remove it at any time without paying a fee.
- AVG Mobile Safety App – The first Google Play antivirus app to have 100 million downloads, AVG Mobile security is one of the most trusted pieces in mobile security software. The highlights include excellent antivirus software and an anti-theft tracker that allows you to remotely lock your phone if it is stolen. There’s also ‘App Lock’, which can lock apps such as Instagram and Facebook when you install it.
- How can I test for malware?
You may already be aware that malware is any software or bug that causes damage to your device. This applies to your smartphone and is different from a virus that you might find on your computer or laptop.
How to solve the problem
You could first download anti-malware software to your phone. This should resolve the problem.
This software will detect and remove harmful malware from your phone. It’ll also protect it against future attacks. There are three types of Anti-Malware software: Norton, Avast, and AVG.
You can also fix a malware infection manually without the need to download or pay for any software.
Android
Android requires you to:
- Turn off your phone. This will prevent malware from causing more damage. Hold down the power button for your phone to activate its ‘Safe Mode. This could take a while.
- Next, click the restart button and then select “Reboot to Safe Mode”.
- Are these options not available to you? Don’t worry.
- To turn off your phone, hold the power button down. Next, turn down the volume until you see Safe Mode at the bottom of the screen.
- After your phone has been put into safe mode, you can search for and delete suspicious apps.
- Go to Settings and click Manage Apps (or Apps and Notifications, depending on the device). Next, click ‘Installed Apps or ‘Downloaded Apps. You’ll then be able to view all your apps and uninstall any you don’t recognize.
- You’ll likely be able to click ‘Uninstall’ to get rid of the app without any issues. This option may be greyed out.
- It will take some additional steps in this instance to remove the malware. Click on ‘Settings’, then hit ‘Security’. Next, click on ‘Device Administrators. If you find any apps that have access to your device, highlight them and uncheck the box. Or hit deactivate. You’ll then be able to go back to uninstall the app, as described above.
- iPhone
Even though the likelihood of malware infecting an iPhone is low, Apple’s closed security model for iOS means that they have very little chance. However, it’s smart to be cautious due to how quickly hackers can create harmful software.
With this in mind, let’s see what you can do if your iPhone is at risk.
- First, restart your device. Hold down the power button until you see the slider. Then, turn off the power. To turn it back on, simply hold the power button down again.
- Next, clean up your browsing history and browsing data. Go to Settings > Safari > Clear history and website data. Click ‘Clear History and Data” when the pop-up appears.
- Restore your device. You can restore your device to a backup state if you have been using the iPhone’s backup feature. Go to Settings > General> Select ‘Erase all Content and Settings. The option to either back up to iCloud or immediately erase your data will be presented. Select Restore from iCloud Backup when you reach the Apps and data screen. Keep in mind that you might lose some content if it was not previously backed up.
- Do a factory reset. You won’t be allowed to retrieve any content or apps after you have performed a factory reset. Follow the above steps, but instead of restoring data from iCloud Backup, you will need to permanently delete all your data.
Which is more secure, Android or iPhone?
- iOS is generally less vulnerable to viruses than Android’s software. Numerous studies have shown that mobile malware targets Android more than iOS.
- This is why? It’s partly due to Apple’s rigorous vetting of apps on the Apple Store, as well as the frequent iOS updates by the California tech giant.
- Android users are less likely to update their operating systems as so many new versions of iOS. This makes them more vulnerable to hackers. The carriers, not Google, decide when or if new security measures are introduced to Android’s OS. This makes it more complicated if you have a Samsung smartphone.
Mobile email security
We believe that changing your password frequently is the best way to protect your smartphone’s email account. Also, choose obscure passwords.
This is an important step. You can also pay for your email security. This is especially important if your smartphone has access to work email. Encryption is one of the best methods to protect your email.
Encrypting your email is difficult and time-consuming. This is why it’s better to sign up for ProronMail or HushMail, a secure email service. These services can lock your account if it is accessed too often, filter your inbox for spam or harmful messages, and encrypt your email for you.
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