(ConservativeJournal.org) – The NSA (National Security Agency) recently released a document stating that people should restart their smartphones once a week to protect against all types of exploits and hacks. According to them, such attacks can enable attackers to eavesdrop and collect data of victims.
The NSA’s document highlights the increasing prevalence and complexity of threats to smartphones. They pointed out that some smartphone features prioritize convenience over security.
The NSA also advised users to disable Bluetooth when not in use, constantly update operating systems and applications, and turn off location services when unnecessary.
Additionally, the NSA recommends avoiding public Wi-Fi networks and charging stations, although many security experts believe the risk is relatively low in most scenarios. When using public Wi-Fi, the actual risk lies in connecting to a fake hotspot set up by a criminal rather than a legit network provided by an establishment. For sensitive activities like online banking, private mobile networks are way safer than public Wi-Fi.
NSA also further advises setting strong lockscreen PINs and passwords, especially those that will wipe the device after too many wrong attempts. Cybersecurity experts recommend always setting a strong, hard to guess password.
Falling for social engineering tactics, such as responding to unsolicited emails or messages requesting sensitive information, can lead to losing access to important accounts and identity theft. Scammers often impersonate legitimate people or businesses to deceive others into revealing confidential details.
The document warned users against opening email attachments and links, even from seemingly legitimate senders, as these can have malicious content that can grab access to your emails, accounts, and other personal items. Learning to identify phishing attempts by strongly investigating the sender and the subject and content of the emails is crucial in the current era, as phishing attempts are one of the most common cyber attacks people fall victim to.
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