How to Maximize Privacy On Your Smartphone: Here are 5 Easy Steps

By Prarthito

| Published: Friday, December 5, 2014, 17:07 [IST]

In this digital age, more and more impetus is on digital privacy. With so many online pages making us create varied accounts, it can be a real challenge to maintain the security of all of those accounts. Similar is the theory with smartphones and their protection.

We have seen enough instances in the last few years when hackers have successfully infiltrated a host of smartphone ecosystems and leaked all kinds of details including passwords and bank details. Hence, there's a growing concern that more such issues might crop up in the near future.

But while the dangers amass, know that there are several ways by which you could still keep your smartphone protected from outside threats. Here are 5 easy steps.

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How to Maximize Privacy On Your Smartphone: 5 Easy Steps

Use a Pin Lock or Code
This is one of those features we see on so many phones these days. Users either employ a certain numerical code to unlock their phones, or patterns for the same. And needless to say, that's one of the safest things that you could actually do get rid of peeping toms. In fact, there are still many among us who aren't really keen on stuff like these. But privacy isn't a matter to be joking about, either.

Check the Wireless
There are times when your phone has its wireless options on and tend to connect to other wireless networks. However, while sending data across the airwaves is a potential security concern, there are phones that are well prepared to help you out. Just remember to switch off a wireless connection when it's not in use. Wireless hotspots and unknown networks also pose major threats in this respect.

Rooting the Phone
While rooting comes as one of the trends among tech geeks to offer more flexibility to their device, it also opens up potentially dangerous avenues for malicious content to infiltrate your smartphone. Since rooting allows a user access to system-level resources, it also opens these up for potential infection by malware.

Access via Bluetooth
Sure, wireless connectivity remains as one of the main reasons of malicious content entering your phone, but a similar kind of threat is also posed when you have mistakenly left the Bluetooth on your phone. Sure Bluetooth poses threat over relatively short-range (around 10m) at which it is accessible, but that doesn't it isn't inherently safer. In order to avoid this problem, set default Bluetooth configuration to "non-discoverable" mode by default.

Back Up Data
While losing a phone is a bad enough situation already, an even scarier prospect is the fact that you have to lose all the internal data as well. Sure it will take a bit of time to back up everything you have on the phone, but it's still better than losing all of them entirely.