Scouting for technology trends, I attended the Mobile World Congress (MWC) exhibition 2017. Even though Barcelona, Spain is itself an amazing place to visit, this event, with over 2,000 exhibitors, really pulls you in. Whilst the media usually focuses on latest smartphone presentations and a bit about connected driving, I wanted to see how consumers will live in tomorrow’s […]
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The Android operating system is the undisputed king of smartphones. According to the latest data from Kantar Media, Android continues to enjoy a solid lead in market share. Companies and individual users alike are turning to Android as their principal OS for their devices.
Despite the success of this operating system, we have all complained about our smartphone at some point or other. Maybe the battery doesn’t last an entire day on a single charge, or it’s drained our mobile data usage too quickly, or it’s running low on storage space. Yes, we should all probably take a breather and stop complaining so much, but it’s also good to know that in most cases it’s not the phones themselves that are lagging, but rather the apps that are the main drivers of smartphone performance issues.
You can check for yourself which applications are most detrimental to the performance of your device. Accessing the Settings menu of your mobile, you can consult the consumption of each app in Power Saving Mode, look at the RAM that each application consumes in Memory or consult the amount of space they occupy from the option Internal Storage.
Be warned that there are some applications in particular that will hamper the productivity of your phone. These include social networks, such as Snapchat, the rising star among millennials, or the dating service Tinder. Spotify, the music streaming app par excellence; Line, a rival instant messaging service to WhatsApp; or Amazon Shopping, which conveniently lets you make purchases from the ecommerce behemoth, are other famous services that cause our phones to slow down.
Google Sheets, the spreadsheets application that many companies use to share and edit documents in a collaborative way, also figure among them. You’ll probably be surprised to hear that Clean Master, which is designed to clean out and optimize your phone, also consumes a lot of resources. Of course, other famous apps that we couldn’t live without also consume large amounts of battery or RAM, as is the case of Facebook, Instagram and Google Maps.
There are some steps you can take to improve the speed of your Android phone. One is to uninstall the apps you do not use from the Application Storage menu. You can also delete the data that the application has downloaded or clear the cache to speed up the processes.
Another, somewhat more cumbersome, alternative is to enter the Android developer options from the Settings menu, About Phone and Software Information (you’ll have to press Build Number seven times) and disable animations.
On your business phone, make sure you are using applications in a way that does not needlessly consume resources and that you are protecting your device with the cybersecurity solution that best suits your business.
The post The Ten Apps that Bog Down Performance on Android Smartphones appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
If your employees are like most users, they most likely postpone updates for their OS. In other words, your company’s mobile fleet could be at risk. This is especially true if they are using Android devices. When the famous little green robot gives a notification of the update, a good deal of people wait for other users to try it first and then gauge their reaction.
It seems sensible enough, but this practice could put your company’s security in danger. First of all, phones with Android are more susceptible to break-ins than ones with iOS. Then there’s the fact that most corporate phones are equipped with Google’s software, which in itself involves a risk — the good people at Mountain View take longer than Apple to launch updates with security patches when a vulnerability is detected.
So Google lags in its response to threats, but the fragmentation of Android devices makes the response time even longer. It’s not enough for Google alone to launch its update, but will later have to be adapted to the specific make and model that your employees are using. Ultimately, an Android patch takes long enough to arrive without the added time of the user postponing an update.
On the other hand, it is true that some people recommend letting some time pass to see how each individual phone reacts to a new update. This advice, which in principle is completely inadvisable for corporate security, does in fact have a reason for being. Some mid-range models could potentially lose some performance or even some functions when a new OS is installed.
The need to protect the confidentiality of corporate data is underscored by this seemingly quotidian matter. For one thing, it’s crucial that employees have a powerful and recent mobile device so as not to run any risks when updating. Also important is that they always have at their disposition the right protection.
The bottom line: your employees should update their mobile software as soon as it’s available. You should also recommend that they make backup copies beforehand. Doing so will reassure them that there is no risk of losing anything. Finally, they should delete cached data to prevent their device’s losing performance. No stone should go unturned in the protection and safeguarding of your company’s data.
The post Update Right Away or Wait it Out? Android’s Big Dilemma appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
As we enter the Christmas period, many of your company’s employees will be deciding to change their phones in the coming months. Something as simple and seemingly harmless as a gift (or a purchase from the Black Friday sales) could actually be putting your business security at risk, especially if it encourages workers to use their own smartphones for work.
As such, the idea of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), if not properly managed, can compromise the confidentiality of corporate information when any member of staff decides to change device. Not just because your employees’ new devices do not have adequate protection, but because of where their previous phones may end up, and the data they may have inside.
In fact, it is essential to make your company’s employees aware that they must completely wipe all information stored on their old phone before they get rid of it. Although it is not unusual to sell old devices when buying a new one, this operation involves certain risks that must be avoided.
Before selling a cell phone it is essential to completely delete all information stored on it.
After all, the device in question may have confidential documents stored in its memory or, worse still, could still enable access to the email accounts of its former owner, and allow a complete stranger to access company resources. In addition to all of this, of course, there is the personal and equally private information that an individual could have stored on the phone.
So not only is it important to ensure employees have adequate security on their phones, but also to explain how to handle the sale of an old one. To begin with, you need to back up everything stored on your phone and also remove the memory card and SIM.
Once this is done, both Android phones and iPhones offer a way to permanently delete everything stored on them. This is the option that lets you restore the factory settings, which you can find in the settings of both operating systems.
Any device that stores company data must be sold without any confidential information. This is the best way to prevent a simple Christmas gift from catching out the owner of the new phone (or the company that employs them). However, should anyone forget to delete this data, it is always possible to remove it remotely, thereby eliminating everything that the phone contains even if it has already been sold. Yet this should only be an emergency plan should all else fail.
The post Anticipate the risk of your employees getting a new phone for Christmas appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
The tablets or smartphones at your office connect to either 3G or 4G (which is better than WiFi). When tablets and other connected devices (like smartphones or smartwatches) become essential to an employee’s work, then it is essential these employees are properly trained on using them safely. Surely, workers think that connecting an office device to their data is much safer than using a WiFi Network.
Whether you connect with 3G or 4G, Regardless of how you connect to the net, your tablets and phones will all connect to the internet in the same way, whether you use 3G or 4G: the internet provider has the power in giving us access to the internet. What’s interesting about this? Well, in the case of WiFi connection, the provider always sends encrypted data.
Although there is no confirmation that the internet you connect to on your mobile devices is 100% secure, what we do know is that the possibility of a cyberattack through a 3G or 4G connection is much lower than through a WiFi network. However, Spanish cybersecurity experts recently demonstrated how it is possible to attack a 3G or 4G connected device, but its still in the proof of concept phase.
Fortunately, in order for cybercriminals to perform these 3G attacks, the resources are excessive. This makes it the safer option. Especially if the device in question is protected by a solution consistent with the company and its private information.
In fact, this is your better option, even for a laptop. It is safer to use your Smartphone or Tablet as a sharing point than connect to an unsecure public network—this is called “tethering”. With tethering, you can connect your computer to your mobile device’s data. Here’s another great option that’s a little easier and does the same thing: a 3G USB Flash Drive.
In the end, protecting your business’s private information is the most important, and most of it is managed using these same tablets or smartphones. It is recommended that businesses choose an internet connection with a powerful data plan: any WiFi network (even some private ones) are less secure than the 3G or 4G one we enjoy on our smartphones. Encrypted business information is worth the price of a great data plan with GBs and GBs of internet.
The post This is why you should “tether” your work phone appeared first on Panda Security Mediacenter.
This introductory guide to online safety offers parents some useful security tips on how to protect their children.
The post 4 top security tips for parents appeared first on We Live Security.
Smartphone authentication: is biometric technology ready to replace PINs and passwords?
The post Smartphone Authentication: the Passing of the Passcode? appeared first on We Live Security.
