Nowadays, it is very hard to maintain your privacy safe, as there are more and more tools to hack and since your mobile device is almost permanently connected to the internet, you should take further measures in order to improve the safety of your personal data.
Every application you install, message you send, call you make or website you visit is a potential vulnerability that could expose your personal data to hackers.
Below, we’re going to give you some tips that will help you to protect your personal data from hackers, stalkers and even the federal government.
Using TextSecure For Sending Encrypted Messages
There is a way to prevent other persons from reading your text messages on Android. TextSecure is an Android application which will encrypt messages, which means that nobody will be able to read them without the unique decryption key.
However, both the person who sends the message and the one who receives it will need to have the TextSecure application installed or else this will not work.
Using RedPhone For Making Encrypted Calls
The same company which developed TextSecure also made another awesome application called RedPhone. This application will allow you to make encrypted phone calls without worrying about someone else listening to it.
After installing the RedPhone application, you will need to register using your mobile phone number. Likewise the TextSecure application, both the person who calls and the person who receives the call will need to have the RedPhone application installed or this will not work.
If you make a call to a number that’s not registered on RedPhone, the application will instead send an install link to that person.
XPrivacy
Xprivacy allows you to restrict the data that applications from your device can access. The downside of this XPrivacy is that it will only work on a rooted device. However, if you have your Android device rooted, we suggest you to install it right away and limit applications that you have installed on your device to access only the information you want them to access.
Using The VPN Service In Order To Encrypt Data Traffic
Every time you visit a website, you will leave some information that will leave a trace right back to your smartphone. For example, a website that you’ve just visited knows your IP address and your internet provider has records of the connection, allowing the government agencies to gain access to this information.
This is the reason why you should use a VPN service which will encrypt all data traffic. With other words, you will visit a website using the VPN’s IP address and nobody will be able to track you down. However, the VPNs cost money and one of the best Android compatible options is “Private Internet Access”, which costs only 39.99 dollars per year.
For some older Android devices, this application should be everything that you will need to get your encrypted VPN set up and running. Just use your login credentials, tap on the “Connect” button and you should be able to surf using a new IP.
Blocking The Access To The Camera Of Your Device
If you think that someone is spying on you or that an application that you’ve installed on your Android device may be using the camera to spy on you, then you should know that you can disable all access to your camera with an application.
The application is called CameraBlock and it will be able to block access to your camera. In addition, the application doesn’t require root access, which means that you will not need to have a rooted Android device to make it work.
After you’ve successfully installed the CameraBlock application, go to your device’s Settings->Device Administrators and enable the “Camera Block Free” option (make sure that you tap on the “Activate” button when a pop-up window will appear).
Finally, open the Camera Block application and tap on the shield icon to block the access to your camera.
Conclusion
There are more and more hackers out there and we should always try to keep our data safe from these persons. By using the applications we’ve told you about above we can’t assure you that your device will be 100% protected, but it will be surely safer than it was before installing them.
There are many people who think that these kinds of applications are useless, but they are wrong and sooner or later they will find out that their personal data has been accessed by a hacker. We remind you that the hackers will be able to access all your personal data that you have stored on your device, including photos, credit card accounts, email passwords and many more.
Have you tested out any of the application we’ve told you about above? Tell us your thoughts about these applications and if they’ve helped you in any way to prevent hackers from stealing your personal data!
