Tech Experts Say To Avoid This Common iPhone Safety Mistake Because It ‘Compromises’ Your Device, And What To Do Instead

Some of our biggest iPhone mistakes include errors in judgement like charging your device for hours on end or using cheap charging cables — both of which can lead to battery degradation down the line.

But there are mistakes that will cost you money and then there are mistakes that can actually “compromise” your data and privacy:

One of the biggest mistakes you can make, according to tech experts, is clicking on unknown links. In other words: you receive an email from someone you don’t know and a link is included in the email. The sender possibly makes it sound very urgent that you click on that link — they may even claim that not doing so can cost you money or will result in your data being exposed and your privacy becoming compromised.

But the mere act of clicking on that link is what can compromise your data and privacy instead because it could be a trap that leads you straight into the arms of hackers looking to download malware or spyware on your device or trying to extract more personal information from you.

“Instead, use this one website to protect yourself,” Tech Expert Faisal from BD i-Tech suggests. Before clicking on any link, Faisal recommends visiting the VirusTotal website and pasting the URL you received into the section that asks you to scan a URL. Click Search. If anything pops up in your search that appears in red, it’s important that you ignore the link — this is a red flag that the link sent to you can contain a virus.

If everything is green, you should be safe to click on the link.

Even with this incredibly helpful site at your fingertips, it’s always a better idea not to click on those unknown links so that you avoid falling into that pattern. Instead, reach out to the sender to make sure they are who they say they are and to ask for proof that they sent a link to you.