Claims that Jeff Bezos's smartphone was hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman highlighted the security risks that come with smartphones.
If the news has increased your concern about digital privacy, take the following steps to minimize the chances of your phone being hacked.
Do not “jailbreak” your phone and do not install controversial apps
There is an entire range of dangerous apps outside the supported app stores that operate from Apple, Google, and Amazon that expose your device to hacking.
When people jailbreak their smartphones to download gaming apps or pirate movies outside of their app store, there is a greater risk of getting hacked.
“This dramatically increases the risk of installing malicious apps,” said Tim Erlin, a cybersecurity expert at Tripwire. Although hacking into smartphones has become increasingly difficult.
Install all operating system updates
Social media platforms and messaging companies like Facebook and WhatsApp are also in the fight against hacking, and these companies have issued warnings mainly for users.
In 2018, there was a malicious video file vulnerability that was used to hack many smartphones, which was addressed by installing the latest updates to your smartphone and apps.
“Updating your phone is an important step for its protection,” says Erlin.
“It is important to install these updates when they are available”. Consequently, older devices face a greater risk.
Beware of questionable attachments and links
We often receive emails asking us to click on a link or download a file that usually contains malware.
“If you think about the apps you use most often, it might be Facebook, it might be Instagram, it might be some other app where you have the ability to send and receive messages”, says Erlin.
“For example, you receive a message on Instagramthat says click here. By immediately clicking the link, you immediately give hackers access to your smartphone.
Users should also be very careful when sending passwords or confidential information, such as your financial details.
Protect yourself from SIM swapping attacks. Do not use your mobile phone as a method of identity verification
SIM swapping attacks are the hardest to carry out, but we are seeing an increase in them recently.
The hacker «takes over» the victim's smartphone number since he can trick the telecom company and claim that he lost his phone and must transfer the number.
“This phone number is linked to all of the victim’s online accounts – their bank accounts”, says Samy Tarazi.
As a result, without knowing any of your passwords, a hacker can access your email. “From there, they can reset passwords for any other service – banks, cryptocurrency … social media”, says Tarazi.
“We recommend people not to use their mobile number as a form of identity verification.”
Be careful about public Wi‑Fi when traveling abroad
We may not pay much attention to the Wi-Fi network, but it is also a medium that hackers use to hack your smartphone, especially when they travel abroad because everyone wants to use Wi-Fi to avoid roaming charges.
“There is always a possibility that someone could see the traffic passing through the network. You should be concerned about that “, says Green. “But actually, hacking your phone in this way is much, much harder.”
The increasing use of technology makes all the small things expose smartphone users to the risk of hacking, therefore appropriate measures must be taken to prevent such a thing.
