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It has become increasingly difficult to keep your iPhone safe from online threats like hackers. And, with the growing number of apps that request personal information, there’s an even greater chance that your banking and personal data can fall into the wrong hands.
But that’s no reason to panic — there are simple steps that you can take to protect yourself and your device. And it’s important to start with this one: this is the worst iPhone mistake you can make, according to privacy experts.
Your Passcodes Are Easy To Figure Out
One of the easiest, quickest ways for hackers to hack into your phone is completely avoidable: stop using your birthday (or mom’s name or “1234” as your password. It’s completely understandable: you have dozens of apps that all require different passwords — why make things more difficult on yourself?
But by not creating a longer, more complicated passcode, you are putting your phone and yourself at risk.
According to Macworld, a hacking tool called GrayKey has been used to successfully figure out iPhone and iPad passcodes: “It's understood that the tool was being used by law-enforcement agencies, and could crack a four-digit passcode in a couple of hours. A six-digit code can be cracked in a few days.”
If GrayKey is a threat to your phone, the assumption is that there are other tools hackers can use to easily crack your code.
MacWorld offers a few important tips on how to ensure your passcode is impenetrable:
“Choose a long passcode: one that's longer than six digits. It could take a few months to hack an eight-digit pin, and a ten-digit pin could take a decade to crack! Use a passphrase containing words, rather than numbers. But use random words that wouldn’t normally appear together.
While passcodes only use numbers 0-9, a passphrase includes numbers, letters, symbols and case-sensitivity which should make your iPhone a lot harder to break into - although it may take a little longer to unlock your iPhone when you want to use it.”
Coming up with more complex passwords is one way to keep your phone safe. Other important steps include: updating iOS whenever new software becomes available, activating Find My iPhone, and not opening unknown links that are sent to you — even if you recognize the sender.
