Smartphones keep us connected to friends, family, and colleagues, but they are a vulnerable vector through which sensitive personal information can be compromised. Hackers and data thieves can turn your information into profit in different ways.
Everybody wants to stay in touch easily, but it’s rarer for people to take adequate measures to protect their digital privacy.
The only way to guarantee you’re protected from them is to get a hardened phone that is deliberately incompatible with third-party apps. Please keep reading to learn more about such phones and their features.
Protect Your Personal Data and Security
When looking for an encrypted phone, choose one with multiple layers of encryption that go beyond simply “end-to-end encryption” provided by many free communication platforms. Choose a phone that encrypts your data at rest and in transit.
A proprietary system with encrypted messages, photos, notes, and contacts should never store this private information on their servers, which may be vulnerable to hacking. The most secure phones only store very basic information on a server, such as a username, activation date, and expiry date. This way, no sensitive data can get stolen, even in the worst-case scenario.
Extra Security Features
Know that not all service providers promising “end-to-end encryption” are created equal. The most secure phones today have iron-clad features to protect you. A truly secure platform is free of any form of backdoor to ensure there’s no way for hackers, data, thieves, corporate saboteurs, or anyone else to obtain personal information on your phone.
If you need to confidently share sensitive data with your business associates, you will want the option to control when the content expires. Any photo or message set to self-destruct will be destroyed at the appointed time on both devices, even if there’s currently no Wi-Fi connection.
Journalists are well aware the biggest threat to personal safety is an insecure cell phone. And yet, many professionals rely on free apps instead of a hardened device with a full suite of security features. If foreign correspondents, or business travelers, ever had to comply with repressive authorities to show the data on their cellphone, having a duress password is essential.
Entering the password will wipe the phone’s contents and protects privileged information from notes to contacts, photos and messages from being revealed.
Easy for Anybody to Use
In the past, users had a choice: either get a phone with privacy risks or use a secure one that was time-consuming and difficult to navigate. Today’s phones let you use popular, secure features with the press of a button.
You shouldn’t need to be a savvy tech user to keep sensitive information private. Look for a platform where industry-leading digital security is widely accessible.
Digital privacy is important, and using a hardened phone, built from the ground up for security, is the best way to guarantee your communications are discreet. Keep the above tips in mind, and you’ll stay effortlessly connected and secure.