Avoid Public Wi-Fi

It can be tempting to tend to some personal business while sitting in a local coffee shop and taking advantage of their free Wi-Fi network. However, doing so can put your phone’s security at risk. If you’re going to use public Wi-Fi, make sure that you are not entering any sensitive information while doing so, such as your banking information or passwords. These networks are particularly susceptible to being hacked, putting your information at risk.

Read More: How Hard is it to Hack an Android Passcode?

Use Passcodes

Using a passcode on your phone may be considered a pain, but it’s worth the effort to protect your device. Avoid using passwords that are easy to guess, and stay away from generic passcodes such as “1234” or “0000.” The more numbers or characters, the better, so switch the length of the code to six digits for extra points (and protection).

Limit Bluetooth Usage

Using Bluetooth on your device can make your phone more susceptible to being hacked. While this feature of our smartphones is useful, it gives hackers an easy “in” to record your keystrokes, steal credit card numbers, and even to send scam text messages to your device. To minimize this risk, limit your Bluetooth usage as much as you can, always turning it off when it’s not being used.

Be Cautious When Downloading Apps

Believe it or not, not all apps offered on the Google Play store and beyond are safe for our phones. Before downloading any apps to your device, ensure that they are from a trusted source, such as via the manufacturer’s app store. Do your research, and read reviews and the description of the app so that you’re not unknowingly putting your device at risk.

Even if we’re not always consciously aware of it, our phones are typically at some level of risk of being hacked by a predator. Protect your information and your device by following these simple tips and you’ll be glad you did!

Read More: How Incognito is the Incognito Window in Chrome?

Use Incognito Mode

If you don’t want your history saved, Chrome’s Incognito mode is great for casual use. It also doesn’t keep any of the cookies from your browsing session. Everything disappears as soon as the Incognito window closes. However, Incognito isn’t a great option for using in your workplace. The websites you access will still be visible in your company’s log.

Get a Proxy Network

If you want to go a step further, another great option is using a proxy network. Known more commonly as virtual private networks (VPN), they work by hiding your IP address and assigning you a new one. When you’re browsing the web, an IP address is your online fingerprint, which can be easily traced back to you. Proxy networks are effective, because they retrieve the websites before displaying them for you. So, the remote server only sees the proxy network’s data — not yours!

Disable and Delete Cookies

Cookies are often the culprits when it comes to online tracking. For instance, even Flash Player uses cookies to take note of your browser’s movements. These so-called “super cookies” can actually reload third-party cookies that you may have deleted. Unfortunately, Flash is everywhere. If a website shows any type of video loop — from a news stream to advertisements — you better believe that Flash is powering them.

Remove Online Trackers

A lot of major sites will track your activity. That’s why opting out, blocking them, or changing your settings manually is advised. For example, Google’s targeted ads can be an annoyance, especially since Google has a monopoly on many users’ personal information through Gmail, Google+, YouTube, and Google searches. Luckily, turning off these targeted ads is pretty easy. In the “Activity” section of your Google account, you just need to opt out of “Shared Endorsement” and turn off the personalization feature.

Read More: The 7 Password Mistakes You Might Be Making

How Common is Password Phishing on Android?
Think about the progress that app developers have made over the years, and how advertisers are no longer having trouble displaying ads on smartphones. Malware and malicious attacks have made progress, too. It was only a matter of time before password phishing increased on Androids — and it will likely continue to do so.

Take, for example, the recent Google Docs phishing scam. In this phishing scam, Gmail users would receive a link to a Google Doc from one of their contacts or a seemingly legitimate person. After clicking the link, they would then be sent to a real Google page, where they’d be tricked into giving access to a third-party “Google Docs” app that would request access to all of their account information. Google has since responded to the attack and has issued an update for their Android app to make the app more secure. Unfortunately, Gmail is still vulnerable to future phishing attacks of a similar nature. The attack was so successful because it used real Google pages. This is why it’s important to use Anti-Hacking to ensure you’re always protected — such as when a phishing attempt goes undetected by Google.

Another common password phishing scheme involves the Cloak & Dagger malware. This malware is downloaded onto an Android when you download a malicious app from the Play store. Once it has infected your device, it can then spoof your Android’s appearance in order to carry out phishing attacks. This malware has been able to infect older Android operating systems in addition to the latest operating system, Nougat. As a reminder, you should always pay attention to the language, design, and reviews of an app before downloading it. In order to ensure that your device is free of hidden malware, use Full Virus Scan to check your phone and SD card for threats:

Read More: Hackers Can Now Use Your Phone Sensors to Steal Your PIN Info

What Malware Threats Do Robots Face?

Robots are embedded systems, meaning they are a computing system constructed within a larger system. As an embedded system, these machines are vulnerable to a number of different attacks including hardware attacks, firmware or OS attacks, and application attacks. In addition, many robots rely on insecure methods of communication and lack acceptable cryptographic standards. While there has yet to be a major cyber attack against robots, researchers have successfully hacked a teleoperated surgical robot, pointing to a real possibility of robotic cyber attacks in the future.

Potential Impact of Robotic Cyber Security Attacks

Many robots operate in close proximity to people and as such, a cyber attack poses a danger to the humans directly interacting with these machines. A hijacked military drone could be rerouted to target civilian populations while an automated vehicle could be manipulated to override collision avoidance software.

In recent years, the number of manufacturing jobs held by robots has increased, hovering around 10 percent. Should a cyber attack dismantle robots in manufacturing settings, such an attack would drastically alter or potentially halt production at assembly plants.

Mitigating Robotic Cyber Security Threats

To mitigate the possibility of cyber attacks, robotic manufacturing employees should strictly limit access to sensitive material regarding robot hardware. Robot manufacturers should also consider implementing a common, standardized operating system and create a council to oversee security issues and updates to the operating system. Most importantly, robot manufacturers should turn their attention to creating a secure application code and placing emphasis on cybersecurity considerations throughout the design and development stages. While these changes likely won’t happen overnight, researchers and security experts agree that robot cybersecurity should be a priority moving forward.

Read More: Unknown LinkedIn Connections Could Be Hackers in Disguise

While some apps allow you to opt out of data tracking, many do not. They may be collecting information on your location, what type of phone you use, and how often you use your phone or certain apps. But that’s just the minimum. Many apps collect far more information than that — especially if you give them permission to. This means they may also share your contacts, calendar, and other more personal apps with advertisers, too. It’s even possible that they could share your photos or messages if they have malicious intentions.

How Safe is Your Data?

The big issue with this practice of collecting and selling user data — besides privacy concerns — is that these companies then have to securely store all of this data. The data could be transferred in an insecure manner, stored on insecure servers, or generally mishandled. This could allow hackers to easily compromise a system and steal user data. With the increase in data breaches over the years, you should definitely be concerned with the data that apps collect and how that data is then stored, both before and after it’s sold.

Your apps could also be sold to advertisers with malicious intentions. This could happen if you use a free app that doesn’t care about the security or privacy of your data, or if the app developers are unaware of the advertiser being malicious. In any case, be cautious of apps that you download, such as apps that ask for too many permissions or apps that want to know everything about you. If an app lacks necessary transparency in its practices, you should definitely steer clear of it.

Ways You Can Detect a Phishing Link

As an Android user, you’ll be happy to know that malicious URLs are often easy to spot. Here are the top 3 ways to recognize a phishing attempt.

You don’t recognize the sender. Remember how your parents said never to talk to strangers? Well, you shouldn’t be opening their URLs either. If you get a message from someone you don’t know, opening the link they send you is a very poor idea. Additionally, hackers often pretend to be a reputable institution, like your bank, school, or employer, so be very careful.

The text message seems too good to be true. If the SMS says you’ve won the lottery or a contest you didn’t enter, then unfortunately for you, it’s probably a hacking attempt. While it’d be lovely to become an instant millionaire, you’re more likely to end up being someone with a hacked phone. So, don’t open that tempting URL.

The link appears to be shortened or contains odd characters. Phishing links often look a little strange. Hackers like using shortening services to create a compact URL. This trick is excellent for masking insidious URLs. But you can safely expand these links by using online tools, such as CheckShortURL and Unfurlr. On the flip side, a malicious link can also be very long and contain unusual characters. Symbols like “%” are often a warning sign that the original URL is encoded and hiding its dangerous origins.

When it comes to detecting malicious text messages on your Android there is a secondary way to safeguard your phone. Clicking on a link in a text message is a quick and easy way for a hacker to take control of your phone. To protect your device and personal information from phishing attacks, activate Anti-Hacking now:

Read More: How to Quickly Double-Check a URL Address

1. The URL is Not Correct.

If a website wants your personal information — legitimately — its URL should start with an “https://.” If the website to which you want to navigate doesn’t start this way — but normally, it does — you can bet it’s a fake.

2. The Website Doesn’t Have a Badge Verification.

On the bottom of a secure website, you will see a “Secure and Verified” badge at the bottom of the website. You can click on this badge for more information. If the information provided doesn’t match up with the website you’re on, you might be on a fraudulent web page.

3. The Website Doesn’t Have a Lock Icon.

The lock icon — which is on the URL address bar at the top of your browser, usually to the left of the URL — is included on secure websites. Fake websites might not have a lock icon or they might create a fake one. Click on the lock icon to check for more information about the website.

4. The Website Doesn’t Have a Privacy Policy.

If a website doesn’t have a privacy policy, they also can’t promise the security of your information. This could signal it’s a bogus website, therefore, move on to a legitimate one.

5. The Website Has an Expired SSL Certification

A website with an expired SSL certification means that the website — and any information you enter into it — is susceptible to attack.

It can be easy to be fooled by a spoofed website that looks and operates like websites you use regularly. However, be sure to be wary — and to use DFNDR’s Anti-Hacking feature — to make sure you don’t give away your private information.

Read More: Personal vs. Corporate Email: Which One is More Secure?

Detecting Spam in Your Inbox

There are a few ways to tell if an email is spam, even when it looks authentic. Here’s how to figure out if a spammer is trying to phish you:

• The email address is suspicious. Look closely at the sender’s email address. If the URL doesn’t match with the establishment’s official URL address, they’re almost definitely a phisher.
• Check the spelling. A major corporation rarely sends out emails with typos or grammatical mistakes.
• They don’t use your name. If the sender doesn’t know who you are, that’s a big red flag.
• Outrageous demands, threats, and/or claims are made in the message. Phishers often try to create a sense of urgency. Their ploy is to get you to open their attachments, send them money, and so forth.
• The email seems too good to be true. If you won some contest you didn’t enter, like the jackpot lottery or a free cruise, it’s definitely a scam.
• There’s no signature. If there are no contact details, be very cautious. Real companies never send emails without a signature. They want their clients to be able to contact them.

Avoiding Getting Phished

Once you identify an email as spam, do not answer it, reveal personal information, or open the attachments. The email’s attachments likely contain viruses or malware, which can be used to steal your identity, spy on your activity, or damage files on the device. The same advice goes for suspicious links. On most computer browsers, you can hover your cursor over a link. If the URL appears fishy, don’t click on it. Finally, if the email comes from an establishment you belong to (i.e. a bank or company), you can contact them directly, in person or by phone, to double-check the authenticity.

Read More: How to Protect Yourself from Social Engineering Attacks

Smart TVs

You may not want to have any private conversations in any room with your Samsung TV. Weeping Angel is one attack utilized by the CIA that can target a Samsung F8000 TV. It makes the TV look as though it is off, but it is in fact able to monitor a conversation. They call it “fake off.”

The public was unaware of this “remote bug” until the WikiLeaks documents were released. Reports believe one version of the malware was eliminated with a patch. However, this specific type of malware has not been used on U.S. citizens. Further, it must be manually installed onto a smart TV by using a flash drive.

Smartphones and Tablets

Both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets were targeted. According to WikiLeaks, the CIA could collect audio or messages from smartphones and tablets through apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram by intercepting the information before it’s been encrypted.

Laptops and PCs

The CIA also specifically targeted Microsoft’s Windows operating system. They gained access to a system by spreading malware through CDs and flash drives.

WikiLeaks revealed that the CIA didn’t inform tech companies like Google and Microsoft of security vulnerabilities in various devices in order to continue with their experimentation and probes. Their failure to privately disclose crucial vulnerabilities allowed citizens’ devices to remain less secure.

Since the leaks, the tech companies have been looking into the vulnerabilities in order to fix any issues. But don’t just count on tech companies to keep your information secure, remember to install the necessary protection like DFNDR’s Anti-Hacking. Stay aware of developments through reliable news sources as well — keeping informed gives you control over your personal data.

Problems like these can be solved with select antivirus apps designed for Android devices. Click below to use PSafe to scan for threats and eliminate any hidden viruses.

PSafe’s security team also recommends keep the Antiphising feature activated. It blocks malicious websites in their tracks combined with an anti-virus that eliminates the virus on your device altogether. To check or remove any vulnerabilities and keep the Antiphishing enabled, click below.