Keep Your Mobile Devices Safe

Cyber security has become a very pressing issue for individuals and corporations. Here's what you need to do to keep your smartphone and/or tablet safe.

Begin by setting up your router properly. It may sound strange, but your mobile devices can only be as secure as the network that they are connected to, and the router is often the weakest link. To give you an example, many people utilize WPS -- Wi-Fi Protected Setup -- a feature that is often used to set up new routers and/or add new devices to the network.

Things look good in theory: the new network client and the router have physical Push-Button Configuration options (PBCs). Users push the button on the client, and then have two minutes to push a similar button on the router, thus linking the two devices. However, WPS makes use of a very weak eight-digit PIN, which can be discovered through a brute-force attack in only a few hours. For best results, log into your router's admin panel, and then disable Wi-Fi Protected Setup for good.

Don't forget to patch your router's firmware as well. New routers should receive firmware upgrades at least for a few years. Then, when the manufacturer has stopped releasing new patches for its product, you've got two choices: you can either buy a new router, or replace its operating system with a third-party router OS such as Vyos, which can give your device a new life.

Use a safe screen lock method for all your mobile devices. You may be familiar with the pattern-based security method, which unlocks your phone when you draw a specific pattern on a 3x3 grid. While some phone manufacturers consider this to be a "medium security" method, I guarantee that pretty much anyone can discover your pattern by looking at your finger while you unlock the phone in public places, and I am quite sure that your phone's screen does get smudged easily, giving away a lot of extra information.

To secure your device, set a strong password. Yes, I am talking about long passwords that use a combination of weird symbols, capital letters, numbers, and so on. You will need to memorize this password, so try to repeat it several times, or use a phrase only you would know, such as "Aunt Marie likes to eat broccoli and cheese in the morning, and drinks 2 gallons of water in the evening!". Let's pick the first letter of each word; we should get something like this: "AMltebacitm,ad2gowite!". I guarantee that hackers are going to have a very hard time trying to guess that 22-character password.

This doesn't mean that you will need to use this password anytime you want to open your phone, of course; that would drive anyone insane! However, that password will serve as a backup in case that you have cut your finger, for example, and the fingerprint-based authentication method doesn't work anymore.

Yes, fingerprints, face and iris scans are much more secure, so I wholeheartedly recommend them. Some hackers may still be able to trick your phone's sensors by creating a 3D model of your face and/or using some of your photos, but most of these people won't go that far.

Be sure to keep your smartphone and all its apps up to date; it's one of the easiest methods to increase device security. If a certain app isn't updated anymore, get rid of it, and then find a replacement. And if your phone has stopped receiving security updates, do yourself a favor and replace it.

Don't connect to public hotspots; lots of hackers spend their time in cafes, airports, and so on, trying to get into other people's devices. Also, encrypt your device and its SD card; Android has a built-in utility which does just that.

Finally, don't forget to install a mobile security suite on your devices. There are many free options which do a good job, but a paid product should always be better than its freeware version.