Today, you can pretty much run your entire life and business via your mobile devices. In fact, if you are not, then you will very soon be left behind in the dust of archaic living.
South Africa may be viewed as a third world country still, but over 90% of the ‘onliners’ are mobile users. This means that less than 10% of adult South Africans are using their mobile phones and tablets to pay bills, source product, shop, and navigate applications. With these stats at our finger tips, we can surmise that the number will increase drastically over the next few years.
But, have these online users concerned themselves with how safe their mobile devices really are? In the land of hackers, their captive market has also drastically risen. And, the fruit is very ripe for the picking.
Because we keep very personal and extremely sensitive piece of information on our devices, we should be taking extra precautions to safeguard this data. However, most of us don’t.
There are a few areas that one can address, to ensure that the mobile devices you use for personal and business, are safe savvy.
1. Ensure the application or source is genuine and trustworthy
What we mean here is that if you are going to download an app or make a payment via a third-party platform, first do your homework. Check that the source or end-user is what they say to be. It is so easy for hackers to slip in between platforms and misdirect your payments. But, with a confirmed and genuine route, you can be assured that this won’t happen.
For businesses, ensure your employees phones are not rooted, as a rooted phone has more chance of being attacked. You don’t want to end up with sky high phone bills, quickly blaming a staff member, when it wasn’t them at all.
2. Password Pains
We understand that it’s a real pain to come up with a password that will foil the cyber thieves out there. But, it really is important to have a password that is difficult to work out, and even more important to change your password often.
If you cannot seem to come up with good passwords, you can download apps that will generate such multi-factor authentication passwords for you.
Storing passwords is important too, and again you can keep an app on your phone or tablet that will save these for you.
3. Automatic Save Facilities are bad
You know when you are on a website and it asks you to save your password for easy access next time? Most will opt to saying yes. And, why not? Then, when you do log on again to that site or platform, you don’t have to go around finding your log in details. You simply are logged in automatically.
While that is a great time saver, its super dangerous. It is best to clear your history and not go for the automatic password saving option.
Take that extra 10 seconds, and rather punch in your user and password each time. You will thank yourself later.
4. Mobile Security Software
Many modern smart phones and other mobile devices come equipped with a mobile security software already installed. But, it is best to check that it has all the functionality that will protect your data and phone against possible cyber-attacks.
Malicious Online Threats, such as phishing, malware and Ransomware, can wreak havoc on both your personal life and especially your business. Mobile security software can eliminate these potential risks and also wipe clear your mobile devices should you suspect a threat.
