How to Protect your Android phone from Hackers and Malware

Now a days smartphone are very convenient and we can able store personal information on them so we can easily connect with friends, buy apps, do our banking and conduct internet shopping, but they are not secure.

A phone used to be just a device to make and receive calls, but today we have all our social-network contacts, photos and other personally identifiable information on it.

Cybercriminals take advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating system. Malicious software stored on an app is one way to compromise a phone.

Free apps that request or gain access to account information nearly doubled from October 2012 to May 2013.When people get a new device, the first thing they do is download apps, but they don't do the boring stuff, like install an up-to-date operating system

10 tips to help secure your phone

1. Install an up-to-date operating system and mobile security software from, for example, Bitdefender, Sophos, Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, AVG.
2. Have a front password lock.
3. Before downloading, read reviews and ratings of apps to besure they are respected.
4. Install security updates from apps.
5. Read all permission requests from apps.
6. Set effective passwords for banking apps and change them regularly.
7. Have a healthy dose of scepticism if things are offered for free but require you to provide personal details.
8. Look at URLs carefully, as it is harder to decipher whether a site looks legitimate on the smaller-sized phone screen.
9. Remotely lock or wipe lost or stolen devices. Record the 15-digit IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identification) number of your mobile phone. It is under the battery and can befound on most handsets by pressing *#06#. IMEI blocking prevents a mobile phone from being used with any SIM on any Australian network.
10. Don't text or email sensitive information when using a public or free wi-fi access point, for it may allow your internet traffic tobe intercepted.

Author Venkatesh Yalagandula Follow us Google + and Facebook and Twitter