Simple security tips for your Smartphone–Part 1
The other day a customer came and asked how I can best secure myself to avoid cyber-attacks. Not everyone invests in artificial intelligence or machine learning to secure themselves. Yes, there is a lot you can do yourself with simple steps. Here is a series of opportunities for just you.
If you have not changed your password in a while, this is probably the first thing you should do.
Everyone needs to secure mobile devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and laptops. With a few simple steps, you can achieve good mobile security. This is of course in addition to securing everything you have in the cloud and online.
What may be wise is that everyone assesses the risk they have based on their own situation.
The risk of being exposed to security incidents through mobile devices will vary. The individual business and user should therefore assess risk based on their own situation.
What one sees is that there are actors out there who systematically collect information on several different issues, for example related to finance, defense, political processes, research, and industry. The more sensitive information you have access to, the greater the risk.
These recommendations are aimed at individuals and managers in both public and private enterprises and are based on NSM's advice and recommendations for ICT security.
It does not constitute a complete overview, but examples of security measures for each individual user's mobile security.
We assume that you have basic ICT security in place. For example, your phone or PC should not use an operating system that is no longer updated by the manufacturer. Similarly, you should apply strong and unique passwords to the services and applications you access from your mobile device.
1. Activate Touch / Face ID in addition to the PIN code for opening devices.
We think it is important to activate Touch / Face ID for opening the device. Both Touch ID and Face ID will be required again after each closing of the device and after a short downtime, for example five minutes.
Many people think this holds, but is it like this?
Here it is equally important that when the device's PIN code, regardless of Touch / Face ID, must still be entered in a public place, users must always shield it from access. This also applies in places where the user has no suspicion that others have access. This is because today there is a widespread legal camera surveillance and there may be a risk of more covert surveillance, either by the site in general or by the user.
Always enter a 6-digit PIN code and use a code that is difficult to guess, even for someone who knows you well. Some phones / tablets allow you to select stronger PINs consisting of both numbers and letters. Such a combination provides better security.
2. Regularly check that the device is up to date.
You should install updates to your device and apps as soon as possible after they are publicly available. Both to be able to close known security holes and to gain access to new and improved security functionality. Even if the device is updated automatically, it may take a relatively long time before this happens. You should therefore regularly check for updates yourself. After a long period of disconnection from the internet, e.g., more than two to three weeks, as soon as the device is in use, always manually check for updates.
Turn on automatic updates and install them if requested by your phone / tablet or PC.
Part 1 is with this over. In part 2, there are even more simple tasks that are recommended for the individual user. We know words and expressions like that big brother sees you.
Yes, stay tuned for the next part, which comes tomorrow.
Here are several articles on the same topic:
Simple security tips for your Smartphone Part 2
cyberattack-is-your-data-secure
Read more useful articles at: https://www.visualityglobal.com/article/
Author Trond Paulsen