How often you should restart your phone, according to the NSA
Mobile devices can be targeted by scammers and thieves looking to steal your sensitive information and access your money. Cell phones have become an almost indispensable tool of modern life but come with risks. There are things you can do to protect yourself, however, and one of the best ways may be the easiest.
Forbes recently reported on best practices guidance from the National Security Agency, the intelligence agency for the U.S. Department of Defense. The document, which dates back to 2020, outlines a series of things that can be done to protect smartphones – iPhones and Androids – from hackers. One of the most basic is powering your device off completely once a week. This is to help prevent spearfishing, where hackers prompt you to follow a link so they can install malware on your phone, and “zero-click exploits,” highly sophisticated and targeted attacks where criminals take over a phone remotely.
The rest of the guidance includes common tips such as not opening links or emails from unknown sources, not using a cell phone for sensitive text conversations and not responding to unexpected pop-ups. NSA also advises people to only use trusted accessories, such as charging cords or charging accessories purchased from a trusted manufacturer. Cell phone users are also advised to disable location services when they’re not needed.
Other suggestions for NSA guidance include not connecting to public Wi-Fi and disabling it when unneeded, considering a protective case that downs the microphone to block room audio and avoiding a hot miking attack, covering the camera when not using it, installing a minimal number of applications and only ones from application stores, updating device software and applications when possible, and considering using biometrics – fingerprint, face – authentication for convenience to protect data.
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