MOBILE COMPUTING- Protect Your Privacy on the Go

With the trend of taking our computer devices with us, our laptops, tablets, and smartphones (these are really, very portable computers), keeping them secure is becoming more and more important.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) recently published some common-sense tips that apply to us in the state too:

·         Review your privacy settings.

·         Only download apps from the Apple or Google app stores.

·         Does everyone (Apple, Google, Microsoft, that neat app you just downloaded, need to know where you are?

·         Use an encrypted password manager for your passwords.

·         Use two factor authentication.

In addition to these tips, this link, from the CBC, has two good videos that are worth watching on mobile security:

CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/protecting-your-privacy-online-how-to-manage-what-you-reveal-1.3920036?utm_content=bufferd13fe&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

When you get a new phone, the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) reminds everyone not to just throw out your old phone or give it away. Before you dispose of your old phone consider the following:

·         You might want to save text messages and your contacts list to your new phone. After you have done that, delete those texts and addresses and phone numbers from your old phone.

·         After saving or downloading the apps from your old phone to your new phone, delete those apps from the old phone. This will protect you from a stranger getting into any accounts that those apps might access.

·         Check your old phone’s internal memory for any information, files, photos, etc., that you might want to save or that you would not want anyone else to see. (Specifics on how to do this is provided in the link below).

·         After you have done all of this, perform a factory reset of your phone.

 ITRC:

http://www.idtheftcenter.org/Identity-Theft/don-t-discard-that-old-device.html?utm_content=buffer95ea3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

And Consumer Reports has these suggestions:

·         Turn on automatic updates.

·         Use screen locks for all of your devices.

·         Check your data-breach status.

·         Use temporary email addresses.

·         Cover your laptop or tablet camera.

·         Use web sites that are secure (https) whenever you can.

·         Turn off the tracking in your apps.

Consumer Reports:

http://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/the-consumer-reports-10-minute-digital-privacy-tuneup/