Smartphones and tablets may be a great way to stay connected to friends and the world, but they also come with the risk of losing valuable personal data, if stolen. McAfee says 36 percent of smartphone users don't use password protection.
In view of growing cyber-attacks and data breaches, it is highly important to ensure our personal information is safe on the web. Having deployed all the best security measures to secure our accounts, we tend to overlook the protection for our smartphones, which has a lot of critical data. Unfortunately, very few of the smartphone users have password protection for the devices. But this could be really dangerous. As the latest report from McAfee points out, devices can get stolen and when it happens to your smartphone or a tablet, it could be devastating.
Most of the smartphone users use more than 10 apps on their smartphones/tablets during a typical week. The majority of these apps are connected to the most critical accounts such as e-mail, texting, banking, social media, payment apps and even apps linked to our credit cards. Developers normally create apps that require one-time log-in to ensure ease of use for days, weeks, months or until users manually revokes access.
According to the McAfee report, about 36 percent of smartphone users don’t use password protection. The report, citing its recent global survey, notes users are “largely unconcerned” about keeping their information safe on their mobile devices.
“For example, only one in five respondents have backed up the data on their smartphone and tablet, and more than one in ten (15%) save password information on their phone. This means that if their phone falls into the wrong hands, they risk opening up all sorts of personal information such as bank details and online logins to whoever finds the device”, adds the report.
McAfee points out that having a password or PIN does not guarantee data is safe, and more than half of survey respondents (55 percent) admitted they had shared these details with others, including their children.
The security firm has also cited some pointers to keep mobile devices safe such as:
- Don’t use easy passwords such as 1234 or 1111
- Don’t use the “Remember Me” functions on apps or mobile web browser
- Don’t share PIN/password with anyone.
- Stay aware about the latest ways to protect mobile device
Source: McAfee