Mobile phones are miniaturized computers, and as such, they come with several dangers. If you’re not careful, you can become a victim of criminal activities. The NSA provides tips to stay safe.
Why does the NSA recommend rebooting your phone from time to time? For your safety, is the short answer. More specifically, the NSA advises you in their Mobile Devices Best Practices
guide to turn off and back on your phone once a week to make certain types of attacks on your phone and thus your personal data more difficult, including:
- Zero-click or no-click malware
- Spear phishing
The former refers to malware that infiltrates the system via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other access points and activates without user intervention. In the case of spear phishing, the user, for instance, opens links or attachments from supposedly official emails or SMS to voluntarily disclose data. Often, viruses or Trojans also secretly install themselves in the process.
How does regular rebooting prevent these attacks? The details would be too extensive here, but generally, when you turn off your phone, all running processes are interrupted, connections are severed, and the memory is cleared.
Upon rebooting, you receive the cleanest possible version of your system. At the same time, Android/Apple security software gets the opportunity to examine everything running both in the foreground and the background.
More tips from the NSA for your phone security
What does the NSA have to do with mobile phones? NSA stands for National Security Agency, and it is the largest foreign intelligence agency of the United States of America. However, they regularly address the English-speaking public on security-related topics.
Speaking of security, Twitch also has an extra committee for this, but something unexpected happened here. Not all members behaved according to social norms in such situations, but see for yourself:
What else does the NSA recommend to protect your privacy and data? Among the tips are, for example, these:
- Only install apps from official stores, such as those from Apple or Google.
- Do not click on unknown links or attachments in emails and text messages.
- Keep your phone’s operating system and all apps up to date.
- Turn off Bluetooth when you are not using it.
- Secure your phone with a pin and/or biometrically.
- Disable location services when you are not using them.
- Use a case that can cover the cameras when they don’t need to see.
Anyone who follows all these tips minimizes the risk of unauthorized access by strangers to their phone and thus to the cameras, microphone, or personal data.
For anyone interested in more facts about smartphones after this foray into the often unpleasant world of mobile phone and data security, we offer more on MeinMMO. Elsewhere, for example, we have listed six myths about mobile phone usage that you should definitely stop believing.
