If Your Phone is Lost or Stolen, Here’s What You Do

Consider what you carry around on your smartphone: direct access to social media accounts, apps for personal and business banking, private photos, and more. We take our safety for granted without considering what might happen, like having our phone stolen or lost. There are steps you can take to protect yourself against this though. The anti-theft feature in dfndr security is one of them, which can be enabled beforehand and gives you the ability to remotely prevent unauthorized access to your personal information. Turn this feature on now, well before your phone ends up in someone else’s hands:

Read More: 5 Phishing Scams You Need to Pay Attention to

Don’t Just Use 1234
This may seem like an obvious step, but for some, it’s the last thought and often neglected. You might be tempted to think, ‘I have nothing of value on my device’ or ‘no one wants what I have,’ but you’re underestimating what you carry. Even something as simple as your email account can be used to send spam or malicious material to your contacts.

Take the time to create a secure passcode; many smartphones now offer fingerprint verification, which is unique to you and no one else. For a passcode, four digits is a decent length, but six digits are quickly becoming the new standard. Avoid repetitive numbers or easy to guess combinations – ‘0000’ and ‘1234’ are not valid options.

Use Cloud Backups for Those Puppy Photos
Your data might be safe and secure behind a passcode, but what happens to all your photos and videos? Memories from nights out with friends and special occasions could all be lost in the blink of an eye. Don’t let forgetting your phone in an Uber mean that you need to lose a world of personal memories.

No matter your smartphone platform, you can utilize a service such as Google Photos to always keep your photos backed up. A free service available for both Android and iOS, Google Photos allows you to backup all your pictures to a single, centralized location. Lose your device? No worries, merely download the app to your new device, and your memories are back.

Add an Extra Layer of Frosting to Sensitive Apps
While a passcode is a good way to keep thieves from accessing your phone’s content, it’s only one layer of security. Consider adding another step to protecting your apps, like an Applock. This type of feature allows you to lockdown specific apps with a secondary password.

Apps that carry sensitive information, such as your bank account, can be configured to have a second password, even if your device is already unlocked. Secondary lock applications also come in handy if you need to temporarily give your phone to a friend and don’t want them having rogue access to everything on your smartphone.