How often do you turn off your phone? In our smartphone-obsessed world, it’s probably not a regular habit, but the National Security Agency recommends powering it on and off weekly.Why does our nation’s top spy agency care how often you power down your iPhone? The tip is part of a “mobile device best practices” list from the NSA to help people identify threats to the mini computer in their pockets. We (hopefully) all know not to click on links or download weird files on our laptops, but the same rules also apply to our smartphones.It’s not new advice; the NSA circulated these tips back in 2020. But they cropped up again this week in a Forbes report, and in an era of zero-click attacks and smishing messages, it’s not a bad idea to make sure you’re doing what you can to ward off scammers and hackers.As Neal Ziring, technical director for the NSA’s Capabilities Directorate, told the AP a few years back, rebooting your phone isn’t going to stop the more sophisticated schemes, but “since a lot of modern cyberattacks are [a] chain of two, three, or even more vulnerabilities in a row that have to be successfully exploited…you can reset the adversary back to the beginning of that chain and force them to go through the whole thing again” by rebooting your device.
(Credit: NSA)
Phone makers also say the on-off routine will help prevent slowdowns and freezing.Some of the agency’s other tips include turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you’re not using it, keeping your OS and applications updated, disabling location services, and using secure lock-screen passwords. The NSA also includes using trusted accessories since malcontents can use your mobile device’s charging port as a way to get into the phone and do some damage. (We all know to ignore mystery USB devices that are just hanging around, right?)A lot of the other tricks are things that are generally good practices on any platform. Be weary of email attachments that don’t look right, even from people you know. Pop-ups can encourage you to install malware, and don’t share sensitive data like passwords over text messages.
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(Credit: NSA)
The graphic above shows the various habits you can adopt and which security flaws they help fix. Some tips may be a little annoying to adhere to, especially if you own a smartwatch that uses Bluetooth all the time. However, the NSA says that threats to mobile devices “are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity,” so some additional steps have to be taken.Unless you’re Jason Bourne, you can probably use your best judgment on whether that public charger or hotel Wi-Fi is going to ruin your life.There are some other measures to consider. Apps like GlassWire can show your Internet traffic so you can see if data packets are headed anywhere suspicious. Make sure to use unique logins for every service you sign up for to reduce the risk of hackers stealing multiple accounts with a single password. A good VPN can also help as well.
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