Privacy and security risks grow in parallel to the benefits of mobile apps for government work. If left unaddressed, a seemingly safe mobile application could bring harm, which questions the frameworks for security in mobile phones and here we will provide you with really simple steps on a most important question in your mind which is How to fix my hacked phone.
A further we will discuss various kinds of mobile app security risks and why app stores need to scale up on mobile app vetting measures.
How to fix my hacked phone, if someone has hacked your phone what should you do, if you think you have already had a violation
Do not worry with this question on your mind on how to fix my hacked phone as following these simple measures. There are a few things you can do before using the rest of the information if you think your phone has been hacked. If your phone is being tracked or compromised, you need to either get rid of it or prevent it from being tracked in the first place. If you want to do a factory reset on your phone, you might want to do a backup of your data.
A factory reset is a process that completely wipes your phone, presenting you with a fresh and clean device that seems like it came from the factory. This usually removes tracking. You still need to prevent future tracking with appropriate protective measures, and you want to be careful when taking your backup and applying it to your phone again so while after taking the backup you may want to scan all the files by an antivirus and after that restore that data to the phone. Data can get back onto your phone via a form of a data breach. Although on android you will be notified by default that if your device has been compromised, a warning from play protect will appear telling you to remove that particular app on an iOS the phone will prevent you to install such apps at first . More information and a broader security perspective can be found here.
How can you protect your data, so after a factory reset it is easier to recover
How to fix my hacked phone… continued
You should consider uploading regularly your data into cloud backups. You can easily get a cloud storage such as google photos they provide 15GB data backup for free and you can store all of your photo data and its a lot secure to store over there. You can easily restore after doing a factory reset by just signing in with your gmail ID. For iOS they provide cloud backup for upto 5GB for free but you can easily avail upto 50GB of data for less than a dollar per month and safely store your photos documents and videos over there. In order to save your document files again you can use google docs and they will accommodate the same 15GB data along with your photos data and even further you can use the google drives, slides and sheets for all of your data types. These options are not just limited for how can you protect your data by taking online backups in a way that all of the backup process happens automatically without you bothering for much technical workarounds. There are many other private secure cloud data storage options and one of the would be Dropbox which will allow you to literally store TBs of data at a much reduced costs which can be ideal for backing up your laptop or computer data.
Since you regularly store your data over these services and they will do a free malware check on the data as it is necessary for them also so that any data doesn’t infect their machines. So if you need to do a factory reset if your device has been compromised you can easily do so and after the reset you can restore all the data from these cloud backups.
The fact that thousands of mobile apps have serious privacy and security vulnerabilities is highlighted in the incident. Threat actors could easily track specific individuals or nation states could capture classified intel if the mobile app includes such vulnerabilities. People working in classified government or military positions are at risk from this type of tracking.
Mobile app security risks, when someone hacks your phone
Sometimes some organisations providing their mobile apps put users in dangerous situations due to unknown privacy and security issues, mobile app security risks are a serious threat for individual privacy and authorities providing a platform to host applications should layout proper guidelines to know about when someone hacks your phone. We will discuss the past incidents inspecting some mobile app security risks.
In 2021, the popular ParkMobile app used by many local governments for on-street and garage parking, violated license plate and phone numbers of over 21 million users.
Threat actors and foreign adversaries were able to access sensitive military location data thanks to the Kilswitch/APASS software used by Marines and sailors.
Mobile app vulnerabilities can cause brand damage, customer frustration and financial penalties in the business world. The stakes in government are higher because of the risks of mobile apps. Privacy and security of the mobile apps used by government workers need to be taken very seriously.
Government data can be shielded by vetting mobile apps
In a bring-your-own-device world, employees often practice bring-your-own-apps that don’t have proper guidelines that put their agency and citizen data at risk. Government officials need to consider the consequences of employees using unvetted mobile apps.
Mobile app vetting – checks done by appstore and play store
Agencies can use commercial app vetting solutions and leverage recent additions from Apple and Google as part of a mobile app vetting program. Apple has added an App Privacy Report to the Apple App Store, which requires developers to self-attest how they handle private data in their apps. A data safety section has been added to the play. There is an optional independent security review badge where developers can receive validation by an approved third-party lab.
Should be Reviewed by agencies
Privacy and safety information should be reviewed by agencies at a minimum for all mobile apps they use today. The risks will rise in parallel as mobile activity continues to grow within government. Before using a mobile app, it is necessary to vet it for security and privacy issues. Government leaders should keep up with the latest mobile breach news and leverage industry benchmarks to better understand the threat landscape.
Digital security staff for major government agencies, banks, and medical establishments that collect tons of private medical data are no longer the only people who have to worry about a data breach. Data is the world’s most valuable commodity, and there is no end in sight to the growth of data.
There are a few critical things that you can do to help prevent data breeches. Many of the tips can be applied to your other devices, but the focus will be on the data breaches on the phone.
Ensure only necessary permissions are granted
One of the easiest ways to protect yourself is to be careful with what applications you give permission to. You may have seen messages in the past that asked if a particular app could access your photo library or your location. Ask yourself if it is necessary when something like this occurs. Don’t grant any permission you don’t need to, and think about the ones you need to grant.
If you are unsure, do some research. You can always grant permission, complete the required task, and then take it away once you’re done.
Be careful when installing apps
The best way to protect yourself against malware is to install only trusted apps on your device. Always check if the app is legitimate before downloading it. Also, don’t click on links sent to you in emails or messages. These could contain malicious software that will infect your phone. Some of the recommended ways to protect yourself against malware is to avoid downloading apps from third party sources. Always download apps directly from the Apple store or Google Play store. This will ensure that the app is safe and secure. More Information can be found here. More information and a broader security perspective can be found here.
Turn off the location tracking
Your location history is one of the most valuable pieces of information on your phone. It might scare you to know that most phones and accounts associated with those/your phones track your movements and save this information. If you look for it, you can find a map that shows where you have been since you got your phone.
If you want to turn off this setting, you can go into settings, location, and then location history. You can turn off tracking at that point. At certain times and dates, you can remove the previously saved information about your locations.
You can change location tracking on Apple devices by going to settings, Privacy, location services, System Services, and significant locations. You will be able to clear your history when you turn off tracking from there. But in some cases you don’t want to turn the location tracking off especially in cases when you lose your device or device theft.
The information above should have given you a few tips for keeping your phone data safe. It is important to note that hackers are constantly improving, and this means that you need to check up on how to protect your data. Every few months you will find new tips and tricks.
It is important to research all the phone updates you are asked to complete. As they tend to patch data security holes that are discovered over time, phone updates are often a part of protecting yourself. You will probably have to turn off location tracking again and reset some of your permission to more comfortable settings after they finish changing your settings.
A virtual private network is available to get
A virtual private network is a great tool that can help keep your data safe. A virtual private network makes it harder for people to spy on you. It works by changing the address of your device so that websites and applications think you are somewhere else. If someone manages to get a hold of your data, they won’t be able to read or use it.
It’s possible to change your location to anywhere in the world, which will allow you to access nation-specific content. Certain content can be only available in certain places on video streaming services. It is possible that your favourite show is not available in your country of residence.
