The mobile apps you need for total data privacy
Everyone wants your data, but giving unlimited data access to every app on your phone isn’t a good way to protect your information.
You might feel like your phone is your life. In this case, your phone is full of valuable data that cyber criminals desperately want to get their hands on. By using information such as your name, date of birth, address, phone number, and photos, criminals can steal your identity or commit other nefarious acts that put your well-being at risk.
It doesn’t matter whether you have an iPhone or an Android, you should prioritize data privacy on your mobile devices. Here are some apps that facilitate data privacy to keep you safe:
anti-virus
Mobile malware is on the rise. In the past, cybercriminals developed malware for computers, which made malware incompatible with mobile devices. Yet the widespread adoption of mobile devices around the world – with over 90% of the world’s population using a smartphone – has compelled cybercriminals to create malware that can negatively impact mobiles.
Unfortunately, most mobile users are unaware of the possibility of their device being infected with malware, which is why many do not apply the same savvy browsing tactics used on computers to their mobile activity. Even if you change your mobile behavior to avoid online threats, you should have an antivirus app for your phone to catch malware before it does harm.
Yet, before downloading the first mobile antivirus tool you can find, you should know that many cybercriminals disguise mobile malware as security tools, especially in third-party app stores and especially when these apps have a low cost. or zero. It would be wise to pay for antivirus service from a respected source.
password manager
Cybercriminals don’t use supercomputers to crack passwords; they take information from your social media pages, try the most common codes (like “password”) or find all the old passwords you used during data leaks. So you don’t need to have the most complicated codes to protect your mobile accounts, but you do need hard-to-find codes – and you need to make sure your codes are different for each account, so if the one is compromised, the rest are safe.
A password manager makes it easy to create the strongest and least vulnerable passwords, and more importantly, this tool remembers your codes for you, so you don’t have to worry about keeping different passwords. past.
vpn
You probably use your mobile device a lot at home, using your private home network, but the nature of mobile devices means you’re probably also connecting to public networks as you move here and there. However, public networks are fraught with security pitfalls, so you should only use them when you can connect to a virtual private network, or VPN, for the first time.
VPNs provide several elements of security for your data before it travels through a public network. Encryption, tunneling, and more make it harder for cybercriminals to identify your device, decrypt your data, launch an attack, and perform other nefarious acts. Your mobile device needs a mobile VPN tool, but you should seriously consider installing VPNs on all your other devices as well, for that extra layer of security.
App store
As mentioned above, cybercriminals can develop rogue apps that put your devices and data at risk, and you might not know an app is dangerous until you already install it. Luckily, there’s an easy way to avoid virtually all risky apps: by downloading apps only from mobile phone manufacturers’ app stores. Apple and Google carefully review apps available in their stores, subjecting them to rigorous testing to ensure they don’t contain suspicious code that makes users vulnerable to attack. As tempting as it may be to download apps from other sites, you should stick to what’s available in the App Store or Play Store.
Screen time tracking
A screen time tracker will tell you how many hours a day you spend on your device, giving you more control over what you use your device for. In particular, a screen time tracker should help reduce the time you spend on social media, which can reduce your risk of cyber attacks and other online threats. It may not directly contribute to your mobile security, but it will improve your opinion about using your mobile device.
Your data is incredibly valuable, which means you need to protect it in every way possible. With the above apps, you can secure your mobile device and data.
