With the ever-present technology and the influence of the internet, it has become hard for us to not get consumed by our digital devices in this day and age. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that mobile phones have taken precedence over our lives, making it impossible for us to live without them.
Most of us spend a lot of time on our phones these days. In fact, we live on them and have stored almost all our important information on them such as personal data, bank details, calendar appointments, private photos and videos, contacts, etc.
Have you ever imagined what would happen if your Android device gets stolen, lost, or hacked? All of your confidential data will be compromised. With the internet brimming with queries like how to hack Android phone without someone knowing and how to hack Android phone using another Android phone, it wouldn’t take someone long enough to actually hack into your phone and deprive you of your data.
No wonder this is the reason why every user should take mobile security seriously and implement ways to keep their mobile phones safe and secure. In this post, we will share some essential steps to keep your Android devices secure.
Use A Strong Passcode
First things first, always make sure to use a strong passcode for your Android phone. This is the first step to ensuring your phone’s safety. Every Android device will allow you to provide a passcode lock for added security. The good news is that most of the latest Android phones come with a fingerprint scan for added security.
When you are setting a passcode, make sure to choose a combination or pattern which might be difficult for anyone to guess such as your car number, office number, or birth year. You might as well use a face unlock feature as well but it is not regarded as secure as the fingerprint scan because any person can use your photo to bypass the face unlock feature.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Most Android users do not take two-factor authentication seriously and choose to ignore this security feature because they think it is a hassle to use every time. This mistake can make their Android phone prone to getting compromised.
Essentially, this security feature requires you to enter a passcode which is sent to your mobile number every time you try to log into your account. Even if someone knows your account credentials, he/she would have to provide the unique authentication code which is only sent at your number. Since the hacker does not have access to that code, they cannot break into your account.
The two-factor authentication feature is offered by most leading services such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, PayPal, Dropbox, etc. Enabling this feature on each service will ensure your account and the data stored on your device is safe and secure.
Lock Your Phone Apps
There are a few smartphone brands that offer the feature of locking your phone apps. That means you can separately lock installed apps on your smartphone either with a passcode or fingerprint scan. By locking your phone apps, you can enhance your phone’s security, especially in times when you have handed over your phone to someone to show them something on it.
We highly recommend locking your phone apps because it’s just another simple step to keep your Android device safe from hackers. In case your Android phone lacks the lock apps feature, you can always get it by installing third-party apps such as Norton AppLock or AppLock.
Update Android Phone and Apps Regularly
Updating your Android phone and installed apps regularly should be a norm for every user but still, there are some who do not take this basic step seriously. Google keeps on sending security updates and patches regularly to smartphone companies, who in turn pass them down to the users so they can keep their devices up-to-date.
Users are recommended to keep tabs on system updates as soon as they are available for their smartphones and install them to improve the security of their devices as well as performance. Similarly, even app developers keep on adding new security updates and features to their apps regularly on the Play Store. Android users should also keep a check on the latest updates offered by the apps so they can benefit from the latest version of those apps on their devices.
Install Antivirus/Security Apps
It is a no-brainer that like your computer, even your smartphone is susceptible to data theft. Hence, just like you have installed security software or antivirus software on your computer, you should not stay behind while installing one on your Android phone as well.
If you do not want any cybercriminal to hack Android phone of yours and steal all your important data, you need to download and install the antivirus app on your device as soon as possible. Several security apps such as Norton, McAfee, Avast, Kaspersky, etc. are available out there that help protect your phone from getting attacked by a virus or hacker.
These security apps come with a lot of features such as malware detection, automatic scan for viruses, call blocking, privacy scanner, anti-theft, remote lock, etc. However, some of these features might only come with the paid version of the security app so you need to know everything about it before spending money.
Install Reliable Apps
Google has a separate department that only works to inspect every app being added to the Play Store for the users. This department is responsible for removing the majority of harmful and inappropriate apps before users can install them.
However, there are other sources from where users can download apps for their Android phones and you wouldn’t be pleased to know that these sources do not inspect the apps and tell whether or not the apps are safe or harmful.
Therefore, every user should only install trusted apps from Google Apps and avoid getting them from unknown sources. You can also disable the installation of apps from unknown sources by tweaking your phone’s settings.
All you need to do is head to the settings of your phone, open security and you will come across an option of “install apps from Unknown Sources.’ Simply switch off this option and you are good to go.
