How to secure Android Phone from hackers: Top hacks and tips

Smartphones are probably the most versatile & most utilized tool in our digital world. From calling, texting & clicking snaps to banking, business & financial planning, smartphones have carved a niche in our lives.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what puts our smartphones at risk. As people keep a lot of their confidential information on smartphones, hackers are hell-bent on hacking them. These devices are constantly receiving & sending crucial data, making it easy for hackers to breach their security.

How to secure Android phones from hackers?

Phone hacking is a blatant violation of your privacy & personal life. So it becomes vital to deploy a strategic security plan in action to safeguard your smartphones against such hacking attempts.

In this article, I have focused on one particular question, “How to secure an Android phone?” I will be sharing some tips to secure your Android phone from hackers, how you can protect your privacy & how you can stay safe.

Let’s take a look.

How to protect your Android Phones from hacking?

Setup PIN protection

This is a must-do task if you own a Smartphone(which I think you surely do!). Set up a 5 or 6-digit PIN to protect your phone. If you feel it’s inconvenient to remember & enter your PIN, remember this. Your PIN is the first & most robust line of defense against someone trying to enter your smartphone.

If you do not set up a PIN, you are giving an open invitation to a person with malicious intent to intrude in your personal life via your phone.

And if you do not like to remember PINs, there is an easier way. Setup a fingerprint lock or Facial ID recognition. This will eliminate the need to enter a password every time you open your phone.

Avoid public Wi-Fi networks.

I understand the urge to use free hotspots available at public places, metro stations & restaurants! But that’s not a very smart thing to do. Wi-Fi networks are often poorly protected & in some cases, they are unprotected. A lot of them are even without a password(there goes your security down the drain!)

Hackers can easily tap into their system, enter your smartphone & steal private information. I am not saying every public network is unsafe. All I am saying is, Why to risk it?

Prefer using your Wi-Fi networks whenever needed. And if there is an emergency where you have to use a public network, use it via VPN. It offers better anonymity & protection against hackers.

Use VPN

As mentioned above, if you regularly have to use public networks, always use VPN. VPN or Virtual Private Network helps you protect your identity by masking your location & securing your connection.

This way, hackers can’t trace back to your exact location & cannot hack your phone. With quality VPN services, you can rest assured about someone sniffing around to steal the data from your phone.

Don’t over-share your Mobile number.

Sounds weird? It’s not! Do you keep sharing your landline phone number ot anyone who asks for it? Of course not! Why? Because you do not want intrusion in your personal life, right?

So why would you share your number with random apps that keep asking for your phone number?

This might lead to SMS intrusion scams & can compromise your 2 FA secured accounts.

Don’t store too much info on your phone

People often store their personal information like credit card details, Social Security Numbers & other financial & personal information on their phones.

While this step allows easy access to all your information whenever you need it, it’s not safe at all. If your phone is stolen or hacked, all of this information will be compromised.

So always keep your phone light. Store all the files, images & important data in a local device & store it in a safe place.

Leverage built-in security features of Android Phones

Android offers a lot of built-in security features to keep your data safe. We have already discussed creating a strong PIN.

In case if you lose your phone, you can always use the “Find My Device” feature. This feature lets you locate your lost phone on the map. You can also erase all the data if you think someone has stolen it or you have some critical information on that phone.

Another step you can take is Encrypting your phone. This is a very simple step that offers robust protection against brute-force attacks. You can activate this feature by following these simple steps on your Android Phone:

• Open Settings
• Visit Security & Lock Screen’
• Enable Encryption

Depending on your phone’s model, this setting might be a bit different. But it’s not rocket science. You can easily find it & activate it.

Keep your OS & apps updated.

Outdated OS & apps are easy to crack as the hackers already know the loopholes in them. That’s why it’s recommended to keep your OS & Apps updated all the time.

Almost all software & app updates contain bug fixes & improved security. So updating them will add some extra security to your phone.

Use only Play Store apps.

If you are installing apps from any place other than the Play Store, you need to stop right now. The reason is simple; they are not safe. All apps on the Play Store have to pass certain tests by Google before they are made available to users. So they are inherently safe.

But if you download them from any unreliable sources, there is a 100% chance that you will compromise your phone’s safety.

So always download apps from the Play Store, no matter what.

Limit permissions to the apps

Certain apps ask for a lot more permissions than they should ideally need. This includes permission to read your emails and text messages, and access to your gallery & call logs.

So you should keep an eye on what permissions you are giving to the apps on your phone.

If you feel some app has more permissions than needed, revoke it immediately.

Back-up

Last but not least! Let’s say you take all the precautions to protect your Android phone. But what if it’s lost or stolen?

Some critical data on it will be lost forever. So you must back up the data on your phone.

It can be either on cloud servers or in memory drives. This way, you can still access your data, even if your phone is lost.

Final thoughts

Smartphone security is vital in the current environment. I hope these Android security tips will help you in securing your phone from malicious attacks.

In case you are using an iPhone, do read our take on How to protect your iPhone from hackers.

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