How To Stop Your Phone From Being Hacked?

This is a guest post by Payton Price.

The use of cell phones is ever on the rise. The phones themselves continue to have more features than ever before. Technological improvements are convenient, but have their drawbacks. It seems like the more advances that are made, the greater your chance of the phone being compromised. If someone does gain access to your phone, it could be used to make calls virtually anywhere that has telephone service. They could also steal any personal information contained on the phone or gain access to your voicemail. Following are a few tips on how to stop your phone from being hacked.

Have a Protective Mindset

In order to give yourself every opportunity to keep your phone from being hacked, you should have a protective mindset. You have to assume that someone somewhere is attempting to tap into your phone and use it to make calls of their own or steal your personal information for nefarious purposes. If you keep this in mind, you will be more apt to take precautionary measures to keep your phone from being compromised. It's not paranoia--its common sense.

Use Passwords Whenever You Can

Whenever it is possible to use a password to protect the services your phone gives you access to, it would be prudent to do so. You may be a trusting soul, and refrain from using passwords because you want to believe in other people's good character. However, not everyone is as honest as you may be, and some people wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of your trust. When you're setting up your phone, use a password whenever you have the option to do so. Make sure the passwords you use aren't the same in every case, and make them difficult to guess. For instance, many people, simply for the sake of expediency will use a simple password, like 1,2,3,4. Sure, it's easy to remember, but it may the first one a hacker will try. You should also refrain from using the same password for everything--you should vary your passwords and use a variety of random numbers and letters. Also, you shouldn't tell anyone else what your passwords are.

Keep Your Voicemail Safe

One the most important aspects of your phone that need protection from hackers is your voicemail. For a business person, or anyone for that matter, it could be vital to keep your messages from being accessed by an outsider. The best way to make sure your voicemail is safe is to use a password, and make sure the password isn't easy to guess. You may even want to change your password from time to time, just to make sure you haven't inadvertently revealed it to someone--or to cross-up a hacker may have invaded your phone and is eavesdropping without you knowing it.

Remove the Battery When You're Not Using the Phone

A surefire way to make sure your phone can't be hacked when you're not using it is to take the battery out. When the battery is not in the phone, it won't be sending out any signals that a hacker can infringe on. While it's true that it could get old very quickly, removing your battery is really the only guaranteed method of protecting your phone.

Use Security Software

If your phone will accept it, installing security software will help protect your phone from hackers. Similar to antivirus protection on a computer, security software will make sure no outside signal is getting into your phone, or will notify you if a signal does get in. There are some apps that can be downloaded that will allow you to access your own phone remotely in the event it's stolen or compromised. These apps will let you turn on protective software so the phone can't be used, or allow you to change your password remotely.

Change Your PIN Often

Many mobile phones have voicemail service. As previously mentioned, it is possible for others to invade your privacy by hacking into your voicemail. In order to protect yourself, you will more than likely have to enter a personal identification number (PIN) to gain access to your voicemail. It would be a good idea to change your PIN often. As with any type of password, the harder you make your PIN number to guess, the better you'll be protected. Use random numbers, and when you change your PIN, don't repeat the same numbers. For instance, you may use the number combination, 1, 3, 6, 5, then change it to 2,5,4,3. When you change it again, don't use your original number sequence, but come up with different random numbers.

About the author:

Guest post by Payton Price. Payton writes for TermLifeInsurance.org.