What can smartphone users do to keep their personal data safe?

In today's modern life, smartphones have become an indispensable item for everyone because they contain a lot of important information such as bank accounts, personal photos, private messages, passwords, browsing history, etc.

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Therefore, keeping smartphones from being hacked, having important information stolen or being violated by strangers is extremely necessary for users.

Here are five simple ways users can keep their smartphones safe, whether they're new out of the box or have had them for years.

1. Use software updates and security patches

When purchasing a new smartphone, whether it is an Android or Apple iOS smartphone, one of the first things users should do is download the latest software update for the operating system.

These latest software updates will fix security holes in the operating system. Therefore, updating to the latest software is the best way to prevent cybercriminals from exploiting security holes. Usually, updating to new software is easy because smartphones will send notifications that the update is ready for users to download and install.

Users should also update the apps on their smartphones with the latest security updates because, just like with the phone itself, using the latest version of the app will help keep the user's device more secure.

2. Secure your phone with a password, PIN, or biometric security features

Many people who use smartphones today still do not use the most basic measures to keep their data safe, such as setting passwords, PIN codes, or other biometric security methods.

While this makes it convenient to use the phone without having to enter a password or PIN, it also means that anyone can view the contents and access all the personal data on the user's phone given the opportunity.

In case your phone is stolen, the problem becomes even more serious because criminals will take all your personal data and try to profit from it.

So one of the important things users can do to help protect their phones is to secure them with a password, PIN, or biometric verification, all of which can help prevent intruders from accessing personal data if the phone is ever stolen.

For password security, one thing that users need to keep in mind is that each application should be secured with a separate password. And those passwords should not be the same as the password used to lock the phone screen.

3. Use multi-factor authentication for apps

Although password security is very important to keep accounts and personal data safe on smartphones, hackers can still use many different ways to get passwords.

That's why users should secure their smartphone accounts with multifactor authentication (MFA). MFA is a security technology that requires multiple authentication methods from independent categories of information to verify a user's identity for a login or transaction.

In case somehow the user's password is stolen, the attacker will not be able to access the account directly because the user will receive a warning asking if they were the one who accessed it.

If the user is not the one logging in, they must immediately log in to the application and change their password, and log out of any other applications from their browser.

In many situations, to verify the user's identity when logging in or when performing sensitive transactions, the service provider will send an OTP code via phone number to confirm the system. This is also a component of multi-factor authentication techniques.

The goal of MFA is to create a layer of protection that makes it more difficult for a third party to gain access to a target, such as a physical location, computer device, network, or database. If one element is compromised or broken, the attacker still has at least one or more barriers to overcome before successfully breaking into the target.

While MFA provides a great extra layer of protection for smartphones and accounts, helping users improve security, it still cannot guarantee 100% absolute security.

4. Only download apps and updates from trusted sources

Regardless of what type of smartphone you own, downloading some apps is inevitable. Security experts recommend that if you own an iPhone, the best place to download apps is the Apple App Store, while if you own an Android phone, the best place is the Google Play Store.

While many apps are free, some apps require payment or account registration to use. Therefore, some users have downloaded apps from unreliable, free sources. This will be unsafe for smartphones because any free version of these apps will not come from the official store but from a third-party website.

Scammers and cybercriminals know that people want free versions of popular apps. Scammers will promote their own sites in search, and scammers will even buy ads to promote their malicious sites. The fake sites can look almost identical to the real ones, while offering to download the app the user is looking for.

However, third-party download sites are risky, and hackers will exploit them to steal user passwords. Either way, downloading apps from untrusted sources can expose users' smartphones to hackers.

Another way hackers steal user passwords is by spreading phishing emails. These phishing emails will give false warnings about applications to advise users to download new updates provided by hackers that contain malware.

Normally, new, legitimate updates provided by app developers will never be provided to users via email but will be notified via a pop-up window for users to check and download.

Although official app stores are safer than third-party sites, hackers will often bypass app store protections to trick users into stealing information. Therefore, security experts advise users to be careful about what they download.

5. Be careful about the wireless networks you connect to and consider using a virtual private network

While many free wireless hotspots like Wi-Fi are legal, they are not without their own privacy risks. Public Wi-Fi networks are open to anyone, but the data transmitted over them is not as secure as on a home or corporate network.

On the other hand, in many cases hackers will set up their own free Wi-Fi networks in crowded locations, allowing people to connect, then sniff out the data being transmitted, causing users' login names, passwords, bank accounts, and other personal information to be stolen.

Connecting to public Wi-Fi networks is also normal for everyone, however, users should pay attention to the risks when performing banking transactions, it is best not to log into bank accounts or exchange sensitive information and images when using public Wi-Fi networks. Because the risk of personal information leakage when accessing public Wi-Fi networks is very high.

This is also the point where many users want to switch to using a virtual private network (Virtual Private Network: VPN). VPN is a network technology that helps create a secure network connection when participating in a public network such as the Internet or a private network owned by a service provider. This can help better protect user data, especially important information and data when accessing the Internet./.