Staying safe on your mobile phone

We spend a lot of our time looking down at the little screens in our hands. We hear of cyber attacks taking personal information from our PC’s and laptops but if you’re like me and use your phone to buy things and check up on your bank account, then really what are we doing to protect the information that’s on our phones?

A few years ago, some high-profile celebrities had their cloud images shared, a complete violation of their privacy but that sparked a whole debate about how safe our information and images really are on our phones.

A way to keep yourself safe is to be aware of what kind of wifi network we are using to access apps, download anything or buy things. Mobile data can cost quite a lot, so a free wifi network is very very welcome and are found in quite a few public places and restaurants. Spending as little time as possible on these networks is best as they are open and leave you vulnerable as anyone can access it, or limiting what you actually use the internet for on these networks can really help lower the risk of you having your information taken. Furthermore, downloading any kind of unknown application that may save your data can lead to a slew of issues. So it’s much better to have an additional application/solution in your mobile that can assist with the security of mobile devices can be an ideal situation. It can even protect against mobile data breaches, which are becoming increasingly common as more people begin to work on their mobile phones.

Security apps have been formulated from some reputable companies such as Norton Security that give you access to their anti-theft app if you already have a subscription for your computer (deluxe package and up) however, this just helps if your phone is lost. Otherwise, there are options such as 360 Mobile Security that is free and can wipe your system of any malware that may be present on it.

There are fewer options for Apple IOS systems as their operating systems are configured to have higher security making it very difficult for them to contract viruses from malware. This is mainly because the apps available on iPhone are usually tested and screened for malware before becoming available. On Android devices, however, there is plenty of apps (most that are free) to choose from, depending on what you want to secure your phone.

One that has a lot of features is the Bullguard Mobile Security and Antivirus. This software is free from the play store and comes with a lot of features that are useful when it comes to optimising your phone. This app scans the phone for malware and is successful in helping to get rid of it. Alongside this, the app has call blocking, making sure that you don’t get interrupted by any cold calls or nuisance calls. It has message filtering and a back-up of your phone data just in case your phone malfunctions and you lose any photos or messages that you wanted to keep.

If you’re willing to pay for the security on your phone, you can also get apps with nifty features such as the camera trap, that takes a picture of the person trying and failing three times to get into your phone. It emails you a picture of the culprit. If you’re willing to pay, then there are plenty of apps that you can download if you think you’re really at risk.