Here's how to lock down your data and stop others from snooping on your personal information YOUR ENTIRE LIFE is contained in that glass slab in your hand. From emails and private messages to photos and videos of your most treasured moments, it’s all there. However, you probably don’t spend anywhere near enough time making sure your phone is configured to protect your secrets. This applies whether you’ve had your phone for years or just got a new one in the Black Friday sales. Before we get into what you can do to improve your phone, there’s the sticky issue of Google. The tech giant owns and develops the Android operating system, and it is also one of the biggest collectors of personal data there is. The firm’s business model is based on making money by getting people to click on ads, and the information you provide it with goes towards this end. So if you’re looking for more privacy in the everyday actions you take on your phone, you may wish to consider moving to iOS. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to improve some areas of your phone’s privacy. Get the Basics Right Getting the fundamentals right is the first place you should start. These are the things that people in the security and privacy world have been advocating for years, and, most likely, they’re the things you already know and (we hope) already do. The first line of defense to stop someone getting into your phone is a screen lock—a PIN or passcode is better than a pattern swipe. Beyond that you should be using a password manager to create unique login details for all your online accounts and making sure two-factor authentication is turned on for as many of these accounts as possible. Both will limit how easy it is for someone to hack into your account using details that were previously swept up in data breaches.
