In today's technology, it can be very easy to access someone’s data, either through their software or by stealing their phone and guessing their password. This can be a hazardous situation as it can leave important data like bank details, home addresses and other key information vulnerable. That’s why, we’re here to explain all the best ways to keep your smartphone data secure. So quickly, let’s get into it.

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How does a strong password protect you?

To begin, let’s start with the most obvious solution. Having a password that’s unusual and strong. If someone manages to physically steal your phone, it can be quite easy to guess a generic password (either 12345 or a birthday). We recommend using a different password for every single account, although it’s a lot to remember at least if someone gets into one account they can’t automatically guess the rest of your passcodes.

Some top tips we suggest are switching letters for numbers and symbols as this would make the password more unusual and going for something memorable but not obvious. For example, instead of your birthday go for a friend's birthday.

What is a biometric authentication?

The next feature we recommend enabling is biometric authorisation, which is essentially authorising a user through their biology, like facial features or fingerprints. A perfect example of this could be FaceID and TouchID on the Apple iPhones. It’s helpful because again, if someone physically takes your phone, they need you to unlock it. Some other examples of biometric authorisation include voices and retinas.

What is backing up and why is it so important?

Let’s discuss how to internally protect your smartphone, like when people attempt to corrupt your data. Backing up data is a super simple task that has great effects. Making backups of data is important because it keeps your data safe if there’s ever any human error, power failure, intentional attacks or natural disasters. There are many great ways to back up data including:

• USB Drive
• Cloud Storage
• Optical Media
• External hard drive

Another idea we suggest is sending any photos or memories over to another device every few months. This way if your data is unattainable after one of these disasters, at least you have the backup images on a separate device. A laptop or tablet is always a great option as they provide lots of storage and you rarely take them out of the house to be at risk of damage.

Is it bad to use public WiFi?

Public Wi-Fi is one to keep away from to ensure your data is safe. Have you ever been to a busy city, hotel or even a park and you automatically connected to the Wi-Fi? This is a public Wi-Fi, a free database that anyone can join password free. Whilst most of these organisations and hotels don’t intend to use your data when you join these services, the other people who have also joined may have different intentions. If you’re on an unsecured Wi-Fi, hackers can also log on and easily look at your data, and because these Wi-Fi systems are weak, they can simply get into your device. The only thing we can suggest is not bothering with the public Wi-Fi at all, only logging into Wi-Fi when you need to add in a password, use your data in any other situation.

And if you’re trying to access public data in a busy park? Put your phone down and enjoy the scenes around you, wherever you are you don’t need to be on your phone or public Wi-Fi.

What is a VPN and why is it used?

And finally, our last tip for keeping your smartphone data secure is downloading a VPN. This stands for virtual private network and protects users by encrypting their data and masking IP addresses. This will then hide the browsing activity meaning no one can jump onto your web browser and take a look at your data. There are plenty of great VPN services to use online, just take a look!

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Conclusion:

Data hacking can be very simple if done by the right person. It’s important to ensure all your data is as secure as possible so if you are under threat by any virus, your tech is well protected!