Is Your Mobile Device Secure?
What is Mobile Device Security?
Mobile device security is the measures being taken to protect the sensitive data being held on your portable devices such as personal identification information (PII), banking account information, or contact lists of all your friends and family. Devices that require this type of protection include your cellphone, personal laptop, even tablets and iPads, as well as any wearable electronics such as watches.
What are some things that I can do to help improve my personal Mobile Device Security?
AVOID PUBLIC WIFI! Public Wi-Fi also known as a dirty network (un-protected) represents one of the LARGEST attack vectors for all types of mobile devices. The problem is that when someone connects to public Wi-Fi networks, the assumption is that they are safe to use. The truth is that a hacker can easily breach your device and steal any personal information simply by g etting you to connect to a fake WiFi access point (like a hotspot) to mimic a trusted network. The attacker waits for the users to browse to a website that requires personal information such as ID and password or other PII and/or banking information. Then the attacker just copies that information and they become you with full access to your data. (Scary!)
Beware of Potentially Dangerous Apps. Malicious apps are the fastest growing threats to mobile devices. In one year, Google caught over 700,000 malicious apps in their Play Store. When a person inadvertently downloads one, it provides unauthorized access and any critical data that may be stored on their device. Make sure any applications you enter PII or Credit Card Information has Multifactor Authentication (MFA).
Before entering personal information always make sure the URL (the web site address) is safe. One of the ways you can do this is by checking over your URL, specifically look at in the URL and make sure the that is part of common domain extensions such as: .edu, .gov, .org, .com, and .net.
Realize that every time you enter personal information into a mobile device there is a risk. Every step you take in this journey of security matters in preventing a breach of your privacy.
Stay Safe and Stay Secure