Digital security is so important because you share a lot of personal information online. If you are not careful about how you protect yourself, you could be accidentally sharing all of your details with criminals online. 

Image Source – Pixabay CCO License

Most people like to think that they are fairly clued up on digital security but you might not be as clever as you think. In fact, most of us are making a lot of simple mistakes that put us at risk, especially when using our phones. Here are some of the things that you are probably getting wrong. 

Thinking That Phones Can’t Get Viruses

We all know that you need a firewall to protect against viruses on your computer, but a lot of people assume that you can’t get a virus on your phone. This is simply not true! Sure, the chances of getting a virus are lower but it certainly isn’t impossible. You should always be careful about what you download on your phone and you need to make sure that all of the apps are official releases. Download a proper antivirus app too, so you know that you are always protected. 

Using Unreliable Cloud Backups

You have probably had this happen to you before. You lose your phone and then you also lose all of the data that was on the device. What most people don’t realize is that if they use an unreliable cloud backup tool, they are risking losing their memories forever! If you want to back up your stuff in the cloud, always make sure that you use a reliable service such as Google photos. People often worry about backing up photos and they ask, are Google photos private or are they shared? The good news is, your photos won’t be shared as long as you check the privacy settings properly. Don’t risk it with some random third-party app because these can be full of adware and malware lurking within them.

Letting Kids Use Phones Unattended

There are some people that don’t like the idea of kids using technology but that seems a little unrealistic. We rely on tech and it’s a good thing if young kids know how to use it and get the most out of it. However, you do have to be careful where security is concerned. We all let our kids use our phone at some point or another, but unfortunately, if you leave a child alone with your device, they might either delete stuff by accident or download something that puts them in danger. The best thing to do is to keep an eye on your kid when they are using the device and make sure that you know how to recover deleted information from your phone. If you have been letting your kids play with your device for a while, it might be worth investing in one of those spy apps too. This way you can check what they have been up to online discreetly.

Ignoring Updates

One of the most important things that you need to do when it comes to digital security is making sure that all of your software updates are installed on time. It is easy to ignore these updates and many people keep putting them off for a variety of reasons from laziness to thinking that there isn’t enough time. However, what you don’t realize is that if you don’t update your apps in a timely fashion, you risk being hacked. Every single app has vulnerabilities and if hackers know about those holes in advance, they can exploit them before an update comes through. The best thing that you can do is always make sure that all of your devices are updated regularly. If you get a notification saying you need to update, never ignore it.

Putting Everything On Social Media

A lot of people take a casual approach to their social media profiles and they share a lot of information. However, you have no way of knowing if the person on the other end is going to use that information in a positive or negative way, especially as there are now lots of fake accounts out there collecting information. There are a lot of popular questionnaire posts, for example, that ask things like what was your first pet called, what is your birthday etc. This might seem like a fun, interesting thing to do but it’s actually just a way for criminals to harvest your information and hack your account. So, be careful about what you post on your social media accounts. 

How clued up is your family about smartphone security? Have you been making some of these mistakes?