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Make Your Mobile a Tough Target for Thieves

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You should definitely pay attention to your mobile phone security. Most of us don’t, which makes it easy for hackers and ID thieves to target us. Here are some tips to protect yourself from becoming a target for thieves.

 

Use a Passcode

One of the easiest ways to ensure that you are not a target for thieves is to use a passcode. All mobile phones have a built-in passcode option, and if you have an iPhone you can even set a passcode if it has been stolen by using the Find My iPhone feature.

Use Face ID or Touch ID

To make your iPhone even safer, you can use Face ID if you have the iPhone X or Touch ID on other iPhone versions. This is much stronger than using a passcode.

Set up Find My iPhone

If your iPhone gets stolen or you lose it, you can use the Find My iPhone app. This is a free app that is built into the iCloud. It uses GPS to show where your iPhone is at any time, as long as GPS is enabled. For Androids set up Find My Device to accomplish similar tasks.

Look at Your Privacy Settings

You should also take a look at your privacy settings. Your data is extremely important and there are threats all of the time. Fortunately, you can set your privacy settings to make it tough for people to get into it. Depending on your phone OS, seek out built in privacy, location, encryption and VPN settings.

Should You Get Antivirus Software for Your iPhone?

You might think that you can make your phone safer by adding antivirus software. Yes, it’s very important to have anti-virus software for your computer, but you don’t need it on your iPhone, but definitely do need it for your Android. Do a search on Google Play, there are plenty.

Stop Jailbreaking (iPhone) or “Rooting” (Android) Your Device

Another way to keep your phone safe is to stop jailbreaking. A lot of people like jailbreaking because it gives more freedom to customize your phone how you want. You can also download apps that Apple has not approved of. However, jailbreaking your phone can cause it to become more open to hackers, too, which could really be devastating.

Encrypt All Backups

When you sync your iPhone to your computer, it holds data for your as a backup. This way, if you ever need it, you can get it easily. However, this also means that this data could be open to hackers if your computer ever gets hacked. So, it’s always best to make sure that you encrypt all backups. You can do this in iTunes with only a few additional steps.

Robert Siciliano personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of Identity Theft Privacy: Security Protection and Fraud Prevention: Your Guide to Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft and Computer Fraud. See him knock’em dead in this Security Awareness Training video.

McAfee Reports Most Malware Ever in Early 2011

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Malware refers to malicious software, which includes computer viruses and rootkits. McAfee recently released the McAfee Threats Report: First Quarter 2011. With six million unique samples of recorded malware, the first quarter of 2011 was the most active in malware history.

In February alone, approximately 2.75 million new malware samples were recorded.  Fake antivirus software had an active quarter as well, reaching its highest levels in more than a year, with 350,000 unique samples recorded in March.

Mobile malware is the new frontier of cybercrime.

Malware no longer affects just PCs. As Android devices have grown in popularity, the platform has solidified its position as the second most popular environment for mobile malware, behind Symbian OS, during the first three months of the year.

Cybercriminals often disguise malicious content by using popular “lures” to trick unsuspecting users. Spam promoting real or phony products was the most popular lure in most global regions. In Russia and South Korea, drug spam was the most popular, and in Australia and China, fake delivery status notifications were the spam of choice. So far this year, we’ve also seen a new trend of “banker” Trojans, malware that steal passwords and other data, using UPS, FedEx, USPS and the IRS as lures in their spam campaigns.

McAfee Labs saw significant spikes in malicious web content corresponding with major news events, such as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and major sporting events, with an average of 8,600 new bad sites per day. In the same vein, within the top 100 results of each of the daily top search terms, nearly 50% led to malicious sites, and on average contained more than two malicious links.

Protect yourself from these and other threats.

McAfee Wave locates, locks, or wipes your phone, and even restores your data when you trade it in for a new one. If necessary, you’ll be able to lock down your service remotely or wipe out important stored data to protect your privacy. You can back up your data directly or use the web to so remotely. You can access your data online from anywhere, or locate your missing phone and plot its location on a map. If it’s lost or stolen, SIM cards and phone calls can help get it back for you.

Invest in an identity protection service. There are times when you cannot withhold your Social Security number, but an identity protection service can monitor your personal and financial data. McAfee Identity Protection provides alerts if your information is misused, credit monitoring and unlimited credit checks, and if necessary, identity fraud resolution. (For more information, visit CounterIdentityTheft.com.)

Robert Siciliano is a McAfee consultant and identity theft expert. See him discuss mobile phone spyware on Good Morning America. (Disclosures)