Mobile Security: Keep your number public, or make it private?

Online hacking in this modern era is a lot more common than we think. Over 2,200 people are a target each and every day. Personal details and data are exposed by these individuals. Unsurprisingly, the year 2020, has been categorised as the worst year for hacking yet. One big question often thrown in the direction of this topic is: well I don’t have anything to hide, so why should I be concerned? And the plain and simple answer is, we all have personal data and details circulating the online world. This thus begs the question about Mobile Security.

Hacking is often ‘dramatised’ in the media, therefore people can definitely end up with the wrong end of the stick. Just because Boris Johnson and his government gang are not tracking you, it doesn’t mean your work colleagues and your family are not. Similar to children, they may not be worried on a wider scale. But by being reckless online, individuals like teachers could have access to data that they do not want to share.

Privacy is often thrown across the room by those that feel like they have absolutely nothing to worry about. However, this should not be a game of following the leader. Being careful and responsible online can protect you from a great deal of exposure and leakage of personal data.

Here are some rookie tips from Christopher Soghoian, ACLU Principal Technologist, on how to protect your basic information.

Cover up your camera for Mobile Security

There are types of software that can allow individuals access to your camera without you being aware of it. Mobile security is under threat with this factor.

Cover up your microphone for Mobile Security

Likewise, the software can allow access to the microphone on your mobile device. This is more difficult, however, as you cannot simply put a sticker over the microphone for mobile security. One thing he suggests is simply leaving the telephone in a different room when having an important talk.

It can be difficult for people to separate their real life from their life online. As everything has been computerised in today’s day and age. As much as we all fear for our own privacy, the likes of influencers and celebrities are even more at risk than we are!

There have been vasts amounts of hacks of influential figures. Including the former president of the United States! And funnily enough, when the hacker admitted the ease of breaking into Trump’s systems – meaning he was not even using basic security measures. Data breaching and leaking can hold big consequences no matter who you are.

Mobile Security compromised by Social Media Sharing

For a vast majority of us, a lot of our lives are already in a public archive. Some of us may filter it more than others, and some may post a little bit less. But either way, we have still shared a section of our life with the online world. Whether this is personality, family photos or even a selfie. This is heavily aiming itself at social media and its usage in the world of today. Two elements that are the focal point here are surveillance of private communications and of public communications. An example of private could be the likes of Twitter and owning a public profile giving everyone access to your thoughts.

Twitter actually play on this very well, as they have the ability to sell access to all tweets posted. This is then given to companies that want to use the data for research. Some companies in the past have even believed that they could predict social uprisings just by analysing the data from peoples posts.

Taking it over to the public surveillance, an example of this is purely the right for social media companies to hand over their data to support a governmental transparency report. This basically tells the government who has requested to do what online.

Race and socioeconomic status

Sadly, even race and socioeconomic status can play in the likelihood of being a target for a hacker or police investigation. In reality, people of various races feel fearful of the police even though they are law-abiding citizens. It simply isn’t just a privacy issue or cyber-security issue. The reality is that it is an issue of inequality and racial injustice. This is simply because if people in poorer and more vulnerable societies cannot afford to protect their devices, yet the rich and the powerful have the opportunity to make themselves off-limits – this is a system of inequality.

You can deem this as a really scary subject, especially when your personal and private data is involved. However, the PRC method is effective and beneficial for us all when managing our lives online.

P = Privacy

R = Reputation

C = Content

Mobile Security Privacy

Anyone with a social media account is responsible for protecting their own privacy and that of those around them. Putting yourself out there online can be a great opportunity for most. However, it is important to understand the negatives that you could also be exposing yourself to. This could include stalkers and hackers! Some things that you could entertain are:

• Turning off all location settings for mobile security
• Use a secure phone number for mobile security
• Never give out personal details online

Reputation

Whether that be for influencers, celebrities or absolutely anyone, it is always beneficial to avoid displaying yourself wrongly online. Some hackers do not even wish to take bank details or find someone’s home address, they just do it to ruin a reputation. This could happen in the blink of an eye after one social media post, so it is always best to contemplate before posting. Some other actions you could take are:

Make sure that your accounts don’t get a login on anybody else’s device. Do you recognise all of the accounts that you are logging in to? If not, sign out!

Do not have the same password for every single account – this defeats the point. If they get access to one then they get access to all!

Protect your content

Aiming more towards social media influencers, content is their career. What you create and post and share is how their business runs and works. It is also very time-consuming and entails lots of effort. Although often people may think that they just post photos and videos, in reality, it could have taken days to plan and edit. Some actions that you could take to protect your content are:

• Make sure that all of your content is backed up securely and regularly. Meaning that you will not lose it or have to start all over again.
• Do research on the apps that you use to create. What do they do to protect your privacy and content?

Using the PRC method is definitely something that holds a great amount of benefit. These actions and methods should all be in place and considered when going about your life online. There is no such thing as being too cautious or too over the top. Privacy is privacy, no matter who you are and what you have to share. It is vital for yourself and for those around you that you keep yourself safe. Considering your reputation and protecting your content. Influencer or not, we all deserve to retain our own privacy. We should all keep this at the forefront of our minds. Staying safe is simple!