This is the second in a series of articles on basic smartphone security. Each article introduces a security practice that, when implemented, will improve your security with little effort.
This
article focuses on phone settings that will increase your security.
By the end of this article you will know several settings that
increase your data and phone's resistance to unauthorized access.
Encryption
Encryption
scrambles the data stored in your phone so that it cannot be accessed
by circumventing the software.
You
don't have to remember another password -- encryption is handled by
the software. All you have to do is turn it on.
I
recommend doing this for both the internal storage on your phone as
well as any expansion card(s) on your phone. These actions will
probably need to be done separately.
Caution:
Many phones use an expansion card for storage of items such as
photos. If this card is encrypted its contents cannot be read by
removing it from the phone. This is a feature -- it protects your
data -- but the data will have to be accessed through your phone.
GPS
I
recommend turning GPS off. Especially for Android-based phones, GPS
may be used to track your movements with greater precision than tower
triangulation. Didn't do anything wrong? Neither did Trotsky. I
can guarantee that Trotsky did not turn off GPS tracking on his
phone.
You
can tell Google to forget the GPS data they already have on you, but
I don't trust them to do that. I guess we can't trust them to turn
off the GPS either so mind your manners, but still – every bit
helps.
Cloud Backups
Your
mileage will vary with this. Do you want to protect your photos and
data from being lost with your phone? Use cloud backups. Do you
want to protect your photos and data from prying eyes? Don't use the
cloud.
Find My Phone
Lost
your phone? You can find it or lock it down using these features.
Creepy but they're there.
What
do you say, fellas – anything I missed?
Comments
Post a Comment