Look, we get it. Articles about phone protection are a dime a dozen and you only start paying attention to them when you actually lose your phone and start asking yourself the important questions. For example: “How do I call the police to report my phone stolen?”
We have also read the studies on two approaches to teaching people about security. Apparently you can be nice and cuddly and proactive or you can be rude, threatening and catastrophic – but none of those two approaches work.
So we thought of another way. We will talk about phone security through a series of Marvel gifs from the Avengers universe. Everybody likes Avengers, right?
Tip 1: Lock you phone with a passphrase
See, despite the laughs War Machine got in the theater when revealing his password, he was actually on to something.
Passphrase “WARMACHINEROX” is actually better than those weird passwords that include glyphs and numbers and other complex characters. Why?
Well because a) you remember it easily and there is no need for those pieces of papers, b) you can add a ton of characters which increases complexity and c) if it is embarrassing enough, you will not reveal it through the attempts of social hacking.
Tip 2: Secure your passwords
Even passwords need protection! These are dangerous times we are living in my friend and if you think you are in the clear just because you have followed through the tip 1, you are wrong. Like – Loki in Thor 1 wrong. Which is pretty much the most amount of wrong you can be. Think about investing a bit of effort in a two-factor authentication app and a password manager, so all of your passwords will be safe inside a vault. Of course you still going to remember THAT password but, it’s a lot more realistic you’ll manage that than keeping hundreds of different, secure passwords in your head.
Tip 3: Use privacy-first chat apps
When it comes to phone security, you should have trust issues. From apps to unprotected networks to weird messages to basic theft – you really should think about adding layers of security to your phone. This can mean adding more encryption by, for example, replacing the Facebook Messenger app with something a little more secure – might we suggest Signal?
Tip 4: Update your app selection
“Perfectly balanced. As all things should be” is a great advice when deciding on which apps to keep and which to remove. You just have to remember that you hold the infinity gauntlet and that you are responsible for all the apps on your phone. Apps that want permissions, might leak your data and do other scary things – and you are not even using them anymore. Be like Thanos. Perform the snap every once in a while.
Tip 5: Use a VPN connection
By using a VPN you significantly reduce the amount of information the network providers have on you. Less information, more privacy. Of course, you are still letting the VPN owner take a peek at your traffic, but there are some providers who protect that information.
Tip 6: Backup your data
See? Hulk backs up his data. That is his secret. That is why he is calm. Lost a phone? Restore from backup. Phone died? Restore from backup. Phone stolen? Restore from backup. Hulk know. You should be like Hulk. Not the smashy part. The backupy part.
Tip 7: Keep your phone updated
Finally, do not be like Nick Fury. If the phone or an app requests an update, you update. Updates are usually filled with improvements and important fixes that can affect security and who are you to argue with the engineers and people who know their stuff? Update. Your. Phone.
In conclusion, there are many things you can do to protect your phone, your data and your privacy. Of course, you have to think about security as a process and not as a state, meaning that you have to be on your toes for the next glitch in the matrix. Ooops, sorry, wrong franchise.
Toshl has your back!
Did you know Toshl offers and additional app passcode and two step authentication which can greatly improve the security and privacy of your finance flows? Here is how you turn it on!
