How to protect your smartphone from hacking attacks? 5 helpful tips

Even if you're not a celebrity or government official, your smartphone is still an attractive target for many hackers, even if you don't think there's anything super secret or interesting about it. Hackers can steal a lot from your phone, from photos and personal emails to bank details.

How do you protect your smartphone from being hacked? Here are a few helpful tips.

1. Be careful with email and SMS

In most cases, the victims of hackers themselves provide their data to hackers. So it's a good idea to be extremely careful with emails and SMS messages, even if you think they came from a bank or, for example, a government institution. Under no circumstances should you disclose your personal information, including bank card details, or click on links sent to you via email, SMS or messenger, unless you are 100% sure that it is safe.

2. Only download apps from official stores

App stores, such as Google Play or the Apple App Store, take steps to prevent potentially dangerous apps from appearing in those stores. Even from these stores, it is advisable to download only apps with which you are familiar and in whose safety you can be at least more or less sure. And downloading apps from unknown sources on the Internet and installing them on your phone is a bad idea.

3. Get rid of unnecessary apps

Sometimes we download apps, use them once, and then forget that they have been in our phone for a long time. Take a few minutes and check which apps are installed on your smartphone. If there are some that you don't use, delete them along with all your data. Some apps have an account that may also store data on your phone. It is also recommended that you delete these accounts.

4. Regularly update the apps you use

Try to regularly update all the apps that you use. Updates not only add new features, but also fix many security issues.

5. Don't ignore your phone's security updates

An important step in protecting your phone from malware infections is to update your operating system regularly. Here, security updates that can neutralize spyware such as Pegasus are especially important.