Smartphone is essential to us as though it is an extension of ourselves. Especially when we travel, we count on our phones to capture the memories on road and remember all our important contact information and private personal details.
The consequences of losing one’s phone or facing data hack poses a higher threat when we are vacationing in a foreign country so prepare ahead to protect and prevent additional risks to your device when you are overseas.
Here’s a summary of security tips to go by for your travelling smartphone.
Illustration from Adobe Stock
• Turn On Find My Phone
Be sure to keep the “Find My Phone” feature running so you can locate your lost phone’s location with another device. Current Android and iPhone have a built-in service in Phone Settings and it needs to be manually turned on.
• Password Protect Your Device
The worst thing to do is not setting a password to your phone. Once it is lost, people with ill-intentions can take advantage of your phone details and accounts that you are logged in. Prevent information theft by securing it with unique PIN or passcode.
• Wireless Network and Public Wifi
You are not the only one who is attracted to free public wifi when you travel. Hackers can get into your device through the unsecured network and steal information like your passwords and credit card details that you saved in your mobile browser. Subscription-based networks are more secure to use.
• Update Your Operating System
Always keep your mobile operating system up-to-date when a new version is out. This is important as the operating system often include revised security bug fixes. Outdated operating system poses higher vulnerability of exploitation in your phone’s network security.
• Automatically Update Your Apps
Surely, you would enthusiatically share of your travel highlights on social media so make sure all apps are updated. Hackers can access your details through apps that have bugs or security holes. It is best to set your apps to automatic update and delete any unused apps as it is most probably to be out-of-date.
• Backup Phone Data and Media
Save all your smartphone media and contacts by backing it up in an online storage or home computer before your trip. If anything bad should happen to your phone when travelling, you can recover your lost data and media with ease.
Text by Jessy Wong
