Three easy steps to protect your Android
Android phones appear to be the most vulnerable to malware because of the openness of the platform. The flexibility that makes for so many awesome apps has the slight downside of leaving Androids open to some security vulnerabilities.
You could call mobile devices the new frontier forĀ malware. Malware often appears on mobile devices in the form of an app. These apps sometimes include malicious code that makes the app do things itāsĀ not supposed to doāsuch as broadcast your location information while youāre searching local maps.
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Of all the mobile providers and systems, Android appears to be the most vulnerable to invasion by malware because of the openness of its platform. The flexibility that makes for so many awesome apps has the slight downside of leaving open some security vulnerabilities. But fear not! You can protect your Android device with a few easy steps.
Step 1
Read All Before Install
Read the appās permission list, which lists what parts of the device the app wants to access, before downloading it. You can find instructions on how to do so in the Google Play StoreĀ here. In addition to checking what the app wants to access, always check out the privacy policy for a few things, such as what kind of data the app wants to collect, if it plans on keeping that information, and what they do with it.
Step 2
Ask, āIs That Really Necessary???ā
Once you have reviewed the appās permission list, consider the appās requestsādo they seem reasonable for the appās purpose? For example, does a game app need to access your contact list? If so, what is the reasoning? Does the game use social sharing?
Step 3
Check Yourself
Review the apps already installed on your phone and check for excessive permission requests or settings.
In order to see the permissions given to an applicationĀ afterĀ itās already been installed:
- Go to the Android Marketplace,
- PressĀ MenuĀ ā->Downloads,
- Select the app you want to check permissions for,
- PressĀ MenuĀ again,
- Then pressĀ Security,
- Check the permissions, and
- Repeat Step 2 above for each app on your phone.
Editors' note: Our articles offer educational information and are written to raise awareness about important topics in Cyber Safety. Norton products and services may not protect against every type of threat, fraud, or crime we write about. For more details about how we research, write, and review our articles, see ourĀ Editorial Policy.
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