Technology has come a long way in the last few years. It only seems five minutes since we were struggling to get to grips with smartphones, but now your kids can open apps quicker than you, and there’s a special drawer in the house where the chargers, USB battery banks and lightning cables live. However, the digital world comes with its own dangers which means someone could easily steal your security information without you even leaving the sofa.
Don’t Let Them Crack The Code
Passwords themselves are much more complicated than they used to be, numerical codes are common but so are pattern puzzles, fingerprint ID, and even random word generators. Try to choose something obscure, mix letters and numbers up and instead of a four digit lock code choose one with six numbers. Unfortunately, if your device is physically stolen the chances of getting back are minimal but you can stop them in their tracks. All it needs is few intelligent guesses; common passwords include password itself, 1234, and significant dates like Christmas and they’re in. If thieves can’t get into it, thanks to a strong passcode, then they’ll be forced to factory reset or dump it. Illegal resets can often ruin a device so now you’ve left them with a very expensive paperweight.
Keep Your Location Hidden
Whenever you’re connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data and have location services enabled your position is beamed across the internet. For starters, an innocuous-looking app can be hiding a nasty intruder, and if you give it your location then anyone has access to your address, the place you live in real life. This is why it’s vital that you only download trusted apps and make sure that you regularly review even those settings. Lastly, locations services drain your battery like nothing else, causing your device’s processor to run at a snail’s pace. If you don’t need it turn it off by going to settings, into privacy and click on location, you can turn it back on when you need to.
Stop That Virus Spreading
Not only can criminals steal your money, practice identify theft and remotely control your device itself they can also spy on you via a nasty program called malware. To reduce your chances of getting any viruses, they can wreak havoc unchecked, download yourself some ipad virus protection software; many companies offer free trials, and the program will keep a careful eye on what data is coming in and out of your device. Many are designed especially for mobile devices, smartphones, tablets, iPads and will regularly scan your files for anything strange.
Clean Up After Yourself
Online histories, automatic logins, keychain passwords are a veritable treasure trove for online thieves, and if you haven’t cleared your cookies, history or user data for some time then it’s all out in the open, they just have to find it. Reduce your chances of becoming a target by clearing your history regularly, not storing keychain passwords and automatic access logins and keeping your device clean, don’t clutter it with unnecessary files or temporary downloads, and check that a web page is legitimate before you click.
