Reduce Location-Sharing Apps
If you want to keep tabs on family and friends to make sure they are safe, then you’ll want to rethink how many apps you actually have downloaded on your phone — it’s easy to go overboard sometimes. “If you’re using multiple location-sharing apps, consider consolidating to one trusted platform,” says Russell York, CEO and founder of Cosmo. “While native tools like ‘Find My’ or Google’s location sharing are OK, there are also dedicated family safety apps with enhanced features and using just one reduces battery drain, confusion and digital clutter.”
Strengthen Your Passwords
It’s easy to set the same password across multiple platforms for convenience; however, you’ll want to consider strengthening it for your online safety. “Strengthen or update your passwords and enable two-factor authentication to protect your family’s personal information,” says York. “Don’t snooze on software updates and app permissions either, make sure you’re only sharing what’s truly necessary.”
Keep your passwords written down in a secure place and change them up so they aren’t the same across different websites and platforms.
Clean Out The Downloads Folder
If you’ve downloaded some PDFs in the past, whether tax forms, contracts or medical forms, then that folder is probably pretty full. Aside from eating up all your storage, excessive downloads can be a cybersecurity threat.
“This is the most dangerous directory on your computer and phone,” says Stanislav Kazanov, head of GRC, cybersecurity and sustainability at Innowise. “If a device is infected by malware, then its downloads folder is typically the first port of call.”
It is the graveyard of the many PDF contracts, tax forms and scans of your ID that you downloaded “just for a minute” and forgot. He recommends sorting by date, deleting anything older than 7 days and moving critical documents to an encrypted drive.
Remove Unused Apps
Think about the apps you downloaded from the internet to order pizza or edit a photo years ago. “They are most likely outdated, full of security flaws and still tracking users,” says Kazanov. “If you don’t use an app in 3 months, then you should uninstall it.”
For the rest, go to the privacy settings and revoke any permissions they have to access location, contacts, and the microphone.
Do A Screenshot Cleanse
Screenshots are something many of us take, whether to keep something on file or even for easy access. “We have all been guilty of this: saving a screenshot of a Wi-Fi password, a credit card number, or a recovery code,” says Kazanov. “In the event that your iCloud account or Google Photos account is hacked, they aren’t going to look through someone’s vacation photos, but instead simply write a script to find the exact screenshots.”
Make this easier on yourself by opening your gallery and searching for images with keywords such as “password,” “login,” “card,” or “passport.” Delete those images and also clean out the recently deleted folder.
Get Rid Of Two-Factor SMS Authentication
These days, it seems like every platform, especially for work, wants you to have two-factor authentication. “If you are still getting login codes via SMS, you are susceptible to a SIM swap attack, which involves a hacker stealing your phone number,” says Kazanov.
Do this by going to your primary email and financial account security settings and changing it from “SMS” to an “authenticator app” (e.g., Google, Microsoft), or “Passkeys.”
About The Experts
- Russell York, CEO and founder of Cosmo.
- Stanislav Kazanov, head of GRC, cybersecurity and sustainability at Innowise.
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