Unwanted snooping is a real thing. Everyone has had to catch up quickly since Facebook’s recent data sharing incident. Whether we like it or not, out data is valuable. It is for this reason we thought a few tips towards protecting your valuable date were in order.
Encrypt
Encryption is not something to be afraid of. Encryption will scramble your data into an unreadable state. Unless authorised by you personally through a method previously selected in the setup process e.g. fingerprint, password etc. Without this it will remain unreadable. CNET have published an in depth item about encryption covering most smartphone devices: Encryption tips
Security
If you lock your door when leaving home, this is a security measure you are obviously comfortable with. With that in mind it may be beneficial to have something securing your data when you are not looking.
There are a number of security apps available for most smartphones . It would be remiss to recommend one in particular as there are a number of them that do pretty much the same thing. Our advice would be; look at the reviews on security apps online on either the itunes app store or Playstore depending on your phone, make an educated decision based on your own personal requirements. Doing your research is always worthwhile.
Hide your activity
Google Activity – Googles main business is ad revenue. Because of this Google monitors everything you do unless you disable each and every control.
- On your device, go to Activity controls.
- Turn off the activity you don’t want to save.
- To confirm, select Pause.
One important thing to do is to disable Google listening all the time. Not only is this more secure but it will also improve the battery time.
Browser History
Always delete your browser history. This will remove saved passwords so make sure to have the passwords to hand.
Location History
- Disable your location, always worthwhile unless you specifically need map use etc.
Conclusion
Unwanted snooping is real and not going away very soon. There are many ways that your data can be used or stolen. Some of these ways are simply business, others nefarious. Ultimately it is down to the user to decide how much of their own data is freely available for others to use.