10 Tips On How To Protect Your Android Device

| Updated: Friday, January 16, 2015, 13:39 [IST]

There have been many incidents regarding the corruption of smartphones via malware or hackers who try to hack into smartphones to retrieve data and destroy it. Other incidents state that data has been corrupted or the phone itself is behaving weirdly.

Well all these problems can be solved if android smartphone users follow certain tips and tricks to protect their devices along with their data. Android smartphones are famous for their flexibility as you can customize anything you want but their remains potential risk at everything. So folks please be careful and go through our list of instructions to keep your android devices safe.

Introduction:

Android is the most popular and hot selling mobile platform in India as well as the world. The major reason for its popularity is the flexibility it offers to its users in terms of customization and the millions of third-party apps its offers via play store.

Apps can even be side-loaded, bypassing Google's Play Store app verifier or by checking the unknown source box. However, all this makes Android vulnerable to security threats and malware. Moreover, with our dependence on smartphones and tablets, we're storing more private data than ever before, leaving us more vulnerable to data thefts.

Screen Lock

Android smartphones allows its users to apply a screen lock in different styles, which helps you to protect you device from others who try to get into your phone or view and share your data. Android allows you to lock your phone by using patter, pin, password and the latest one is face password.
The face password only works if you have a front snapper.

Encryption

BalckBerry's smartphones are known for their tight security and Encryption as every single molecule in their smartphone is encrypted. Well, Android smartphones allows you to encrypt all the data on your device. The users will need to set key in a password or a PIN each time the device is turned on to decrypt all the data. If the phone lands on the wrong hands, there's no way the person will gain access to your data without a password or PIN even if the device is restarted. Hence your sensitive data stays safe even though the device becomes a little slow. It can be activated through the Android device's Security Settings.

Think twice

According to ESET a security solution firm, almost 30-40% devices in workplaces are vulnerable to threats and other malware if the users are not aware of the risk. If you are planning to use your personal device at work then please discuss about the issues with IT before configuring access and store work related data.

Device Manager

Even if you have lost your device, the Android Device Manager feature will allow you to track your (connected) device on Google Maps. It also enables the device to ring at full volume for five minutes and erase all the data instantly. To verify if it's enabled, you can go to the Settings>Security>Device Administrators.

SD cards

As tech experts ask Android smartphone users not to store sensitive data on their SD cards as it holds potential risk to them. Data information regarding credit cards, personal ID or work is easy to remove and access to the data becomes easy as a pie. Important information needs to be stored in internal storage. Therefore users need to buy smartphones with enough internal memory (RAM).

Unknown Sources

Apps on the Google Play Store are not curated as diligently as the ones available on Apple's App Store but, it is still the safest place to download and install apps on Android platform. Installation files (APKs) sourced from third-party sites should be dealt with caution as they might hide malware or spyware. Users need to uncheck the unknown source box if it has been selected.

Lock apps

Additional protection for apps like Gallery and Messaging to protect private data is available on the play store. Apps like Gallery Lock and SMS lock can safeguard your data from being mishandeled. A number of apps are available on Play Store that offer an additional level of protection for individual apps. Such apps ask you to set up a password or PIN code that needs to be entered whenever you open the particular protected apps.

Phone Rooting

Jailbreak is for Apple and Rooting is for Android. Both have and perform the same function i.e accessing the core of the phone and giving the user full permission and rights to install custom ROMS and even incompatible apps but, voids of the Warranty. However, apps with root access gets unhindered access to your device file system which may cause more damage and attract malware to your device.

Software Update

Androind smartphone users need to keep their phone software along with their other apps updated as older version of apps or softwares migh not work or get corrupted if not updated. Google Play store provides updates for all its apps and software regularly for its users, hence keeping your device and your data safe. Check for software updates by going to device settings>System Updates>About Device.