You may ask why you should bother paying extra attention to your smartphone’s security. Well, with every passing day, the world is shifting into a digital landscape. Although the shift is beneficial in many ways, it has opened doors for many sorts of new threats. After a quick google search on the number of cyber attacks, you would be surprised after seeing the numbers. The AV-Test institute reported that they have registered around 450,000 new malware on a daily basis. What is even more threatening is that it is just the tip of the iceberg.
With people using smartphones for their sensitive data like bank accounts, social media accounts, pictures of financial documents, etc., it is important to pay extra attention to the security of your smartphones. Plus, it is not the malware that is a threat to your data. Even your friends can successfully breach your phone and get access to data that they should not have. Anyways, not to worry as there are various ways for improving Android security on your phone. Let’s see what options are available out there.
Security Recommendations for improving Android security
To build extra walls of security, you can opt for multiple ways. Here are some of the major recommendations that you can follow to make your Android smartphone more secure.
1. Update Your Operating System
Have you ever wondered what new features are introduced in new versions of Android other than display settings, tweaks in themes, more customization options, etc.? When a new update is launched, it often contains many bug fixes and security updates. There might be various vulnerabilities in the older versions, which the developers have fixed in the newer releases. New versions are more powerful against malicious attacks compared to previous ones. Ensure that your smartphone has the latest Android installed.
2. Limit Access to Your Apps
You often might have ended up with your app asking you for access to your mobile. The app might request tracking your location, having access to your pictures, google accounts, contacts, etc. This might seem normal, but you are unknowingly opening gates for cyber attackers to sneak into your phone.
You should only allow access where needed. For instance, allowing access to the camera and gallery to WhatsApp seems to be necessary as you would not be able to share pictures otherwise. Limit access to your installed app by following these simple steps:
- Open Settings.
- Navigate to App and Notifications -> Advanced -> App Permissions or Permissions manager.
- Go through each app and allow access to only a few selective ones.
Additionally, delete all those apps that you no longer use and might not want to in the future.
3. Re-think On Your Choice of Web Browser
Chances are high that you are using Google Chrome as your default web browser. You might be shocked by knowing that Google Chrome is not just heavy on your phone’s RAM. It has many endpoints for hackers. Plus, Google Chrome stores many login and passwords for sensitive websites.
To avoid any sort of potential data leak or illegal access to your smartphone, use secure web browsers instead of Google Chrome. Secure web browsers delete all traces as soon as you close the browser. Additionally, ensure you enable any blocker to block third-party scripts, trackers, ads, etc., for better protection.
4. Enable Two-Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication means using additional verifications besides your password. Additional verification could require your fingerprint or any other security token. In case even your password is compromised, you will have an extra bit of relief by knowing that accessing your private data still requires additional security checks.
5. Enable Find My Device
Like iPhones, Google also offers a feature with which you can track your smartphone when it is stolen or is out of sight. Not only can you track your smartphone, but you can also wipe out your data remotely, preventing illegal access to your sensitive data. The find my device features will also provide you with the pinpoint location on a map. It would be highly beneficial because it will show you where your phone is right now.
6. Ensure A Good VPN
VPNs are a major relief, especially for enterprises. But why is that? Assume that the employees work remotely, for which they would have to connect with their office by connecting their smartphones to Wi-Fi. Any hacker around you can simply capture your data packets, known as sniffing. You would be surprised to know that sniffing data packets is unbelievably easy. All you need is packet sniffing software, WireShark, for instance, and a Wi-Fi adaptor to capture packets.
To prevent hackers from intercepting sensitive data, employees should be recommended to use a virtual private network (VPN). VPN encrypts user data in such a way that intercepting the data becomes extremely difficult. Although VPNs require paying subscriptions, they are a great tool to boost security.
7. Opting for Android Enterprise Essentials
Android enterprise essentials is a service from Google. It is a lightweight suit specially designed to protect smartphones from malicious attacks. It will enforce screen locks, always-on malware protection, prevent side-loading of applications, scan the smartphone, etc. On top of that, it will keep running even if your phone has been reset. Android enterprise essential will do all the heavy-duty work to protect the data from being compromised by adding multiple layers of security.
Wrapping Up
Smartphones have become very precious these days as a majority of people store their sensitive data on their smartphones. It could be user logins to social media accounts, private pictures, pictures of financial documents, passwords of bank accounts, and much more. It must be acknowledged that smartphones are always vulnerable unless or until you keep their access restricted to others.
Luckily, there are various options for improving Android security that you can opt to increase the security of your smartphone’s access. With these easy-to-implement options, it just takes a couple of minutes to save you from a lot of unwanted future troubles.
Experiencing difficulties with your Device, check out our “How To” page on how to resolve some of these issues.
