How to secure your mobile phone from online scammers

Every day, scammers browse the Internet looking for an account to hack.

A Communications Authority of Kenya report released last year showed an increase of 268.883 percent in cyber threats activities.

You might go for scorched-earth on your online presence, but deleting every account you have to prevent being hacked is impractical in today’s connected world.

Remember that being online puts you and your data at risk, but there are ways you can minimise your risk and make a hacker’s job harder.

How to protect your phone from scammers

Always remember that mobile devices require additional effort to protect, including deactivating certain features when they’re not in use and installing security applications.

According to Max Freedman and Jackie Dove, you can secure your device in the following ways:

Turn off Bluetooth

Turn off your Bluetooth when not in use. Keeping your Bluetooth on but dormant opens another back door for computer hackers.

Avoid unsecured public Wi-Fi

Password-free, widely used Wi-Fi networks have no security features. As such, they’re prime targets for computer hackers.

Get a security app

Install a security app on your phone, just as you should install a firewall, antivirus software and an anti-spyware package on your computer. Popular options include Avast, Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus and Bitdefender.

Use a better passcode

Security…