Digital security is an increasingly present concern in our daily lives, especially when it comes to the use of smartphones. With the increasing number of cyber-attacks and the increasing exposure of our personal data on the internet, it is essential to ensure the security of our mobile devices. In this article, see three measures we can take to protect our smartphones and personal data against possible hackers and scammers.
1- Don’t use easy passwords
Most people say “but I’m not even famous, no one will try to hack me” and keep using the same classic password 123456 or sentha123. What nobody imagines, however, is that you don’t need to be a celebrity or influencer to be a victim of malicious web-attack.
Hackers, most of the time, look for accounts of normal people to get bank details, access to contacts and personal information. By targeting smaller targets, criminals have a greater chance of being successful, as regular users are, in many cases, more vulnerable to attacks.
brute force attack
One of the methods used by attackers is the brute force attack, which consists of several consecutive attempts to break into a system or account, trying a different password at a time, until they hit the correct combination.
Solution
Using complex passwords, with multiple characters, numbers and special digits makes this type of attempt difficult, as it exponentially increases the amount of time that the brute force attack will have to keep working to access your account, giving enough time to the platform (or you) to take appropriate action.
2- Use two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication completely blocks unauthorized access to your account on another device. Because of the need to have more information on the victim to break in, hackers usually give up when faced with a block such as two-factor authentication.
how it works
Two-factor authentication creates the need to use, in addition to the password, a second access to get into the account in question, such as an email, SMS, cell phone or other physical device.
Currently, the vast majority of services support two-factor authentication, which is usually done in your account’s security settings. Two-factor authentication is virtually foolproof, as the only way to break into the system is if the criminal steals the smartphone associated with the account or manages to clone the device.
3- Password manager
There are several password managers spread across Google Play, such as Last Pass, Bitwarden and even Google Authenticator, which does a similar job. What these apps do is store and manage your passwords in an encrypted “vault”, similar to Google’s “save password” option.
The difference between these applications and Google’s automatic saving is the encryption behind the saved passwords, which remain in their own application, with several layers of security, making it difficult for any attempt to clone data from the smartphone.
Google Authenticator
Google Authenticator is a tool that mixes two-factor authentication with password management. In the security options of your accounts, you will find the option to activate two-factor authentication with Google Authenticator, which will keep your accounts individually, generating a random code for each one of them. When trying to log in again, the account will require the code that appears in your Authenticator app, which changes every 30 seconds.
Of course, unforeseen events, human errors and slips can always happen, making all that has been said in vain. However, if you follow these tips, you will certainly make it difficult for criminals who will try to steal your data.
It is always important to point out that, as a basic recommendation, do not open any files without being sure of their contents first, and do not install any applications that are not from official or trusted sources. So if you hit any doubt, don’t hesitate to delete the file so you don’t risk it. Finally, always download updates for your smartphone, as they help to secure the device, protecting it from viruses and recent malicious programs.
