Smart Phone Security

Smart phones are central to security work and personal "high-risk" activity such as online banking. Cyber experts recommend the following actions to minimise risk.

• Protect your phone with a strong PIN as a back up to a pattern, fingerprint or facial recognition
• Update apps and your phone system.  Updates often include security patches
• Use a password to protect your apps, especially for banking and sensitive information.  You could use a password manager
• Avoid third party app stores.  Both Google and Apple vet apps they host.
• Be wary of unexpected messages.  Don't open an attachment from an unauthorised or unknown sender.
• Restrict permissions to your app unless necessary.  Usually there is no need to allow an app access to your camera, microphone or location services.
• Be cautious of public WI-FI network
• If your phone is lost or stolen attempt a remote wipe with the Lock and Erase function.  You can enable this in your settings.l