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Malicious smartphone hacking is becoming more and more prevalent. There was a 54% increase in breaches in 2019 compared to 2018, and 2020 will see an even more drastic rise in mobile-focused hacking.
It’s a terrifying phenomenon, however, there are many easy steps you can take to prevent someone from hacking into your Android phone.
Keeping your phone updated with every new Android version release, will ensure your device is up to date with the latest important security & privacy enhancements.
Google almost always includes significant improvements that aren’t necessarily noticeable to the naked eye. This is an easy way to receive the latest security measures and even other general Android improvement updates.
If you don’t know how to update, you can view instructions on Google’s Help Center.
The more security measures are in place to get into your phone the better! That said, adding facial recognition, if you can, is always better than not having it. The odds of a criminal being able to unlock it by using their face is close to zero thanks to innovative biometric technologies.
It’s also important to use longer passwords – not just a 4-digit numeric one. Adding a mix of alphabetic & numeric values, caps, and special characters to your password makes it incredibly difficult for hackers to guess.
Free wifi at a public park, cafe, or library is great, but using it also comes with risk! Joining a public Wifi network means that there is no screening or sign up method to use the internet, which means anyone, including a potential hacker, could use it.
Using data in public places, instead of relying on an unsecured, public network, is highly recommended.
Finance, email, and messaging apps should individually be locked if you’re storing extremely important information on them.
If your gut says an app is sketchy, don’t download it. There are many apps that are developed for the sole purpose of scamming money from you, or stealing your personal information. In fact, 10,000 rogue apps are responsible for 28% of all attacks.
A tip is to recognize & stay away from dark patterns.
If you don’t clean your phone on a regular basis, clutter, junk files, and unnecessary information piles up along with the possibility of phishy materials. Cleaning it will improve your Android phone’s performance, efficiency, & speed and will make room in your phone to update to the latest Android version.
Consider using X-Cleaner, a free Android app that automatically cleans your phone and creates storage in the process.
Two-factor authentication simply means a method that requires two ways of validating your identity. The way it works is simple. Upon entering your password the second method of verifying will typically arrive by text message.
What makes it so secure is that a two-factor authentication code can only be used only one time. Every time you log in, you’ll need to use a new code.
