Gizmo Guide: Ways to increase phone, data security

Do not use face recognition to secure your phone if it is available. It can be easily spoofed. Researchers have shown that patterns can also be cracked in under five attempts. Fingerprint recognition on the other hand is slightly better. Your best bet is a long password or a PIN. 

Install Android Device Manager if you do not already have it. If you lose your phone, you can use the Android Device Manager to locate your phone on a map using GPS. You can then wipe your phone or just reset your device’s PIN. But this will not work unless the GPS is on. Don’t turn location off to save battery!

Don’t sell your phone till you clear data. People think that it is enough to just perform a factory reset. Researchers have managed to recover photos, contacts and SMS from second-hand phones. Most of us can safely sell our phones after we encrypt our phones and then perform a factory reset. There are apps that can help you encrypt your phone. If your phone had Marshmallow or above when you bought it, all you have to do is set a PIN. 

Your disk gets automatically encrypted. You can sell your phone after a factory reset. Delete the SMSes that you get from your bank. 

Install an anti-virus but know the downsides. There is a debate about whether an anti-virus app is really necessary. But it is better to be safe than sorry. Apps made by security experts like AVG and Norton are okay. But be aware that an anti-virus will slow your mobile down and will flag some genuine apps as malware. Exercise your judgement. But at any cost do not install any app that promises to clean your RAM. They offer no value and just slow your phone down. 

A few years ago, if you lost your phone, you lost private data, but today, if you lose your phone, you lose virtual money from your e-wallet! Protect your phone today before you lose money.