Protect your mobile, devices and computer

• Set an auto-screen lock on your mobile, device and computer. Lock it with a hard-to-guess password, PIN, pattern, or biometric authentication method (e.g. fingerprint, face or voice recognition).
• Set a lock for specific features on your device, such as banking apps and security settings.
• Don’t share your password, PIN or pattern with anyone and make sure no one else has their face or fingerprints registered to unlock your device.
• Don’t give unsolicited callers access to your computer or device.
• Reset your mobile or device to factory settings if you sell it.
• Lock your mobile, device and computer when you’re not using them and log out of apps when you’re not using them.  
  

• Update the operating systems and apps on your devices when prompted. Better yet, set them to auto-update. These updates often contain security updates to protect against emerging threats.
• Make sure you have anti-virus software that is kept up to date and run regularly.
  

• Only install apps onto your mobile or device from an official app store, like the App Store or Google Play.
• The popularity of the app, the amount of reviews it has received, and information on the developer’s website can indicate if the app is legitimate. Fake apps do exist on official app stores, so make sure you take steps to check that they are genuine.
• Make sure the permissions required by the app (e.g. access to your personal data) are not excessive for what the app will be doing.
• Check the terms and conditions to see if, and how, your data will be shared.
• Delete apps that you no longer use.

Be careful if other people have access to your device. If someone else’s fingerprint, face or other biometric identification is stored on your device, don’t enable biometric identification access to your banking apps. Don’t enable mobile wallet cards (i.e. Apple Pay—, Google Pay™— or Fitbit Pay™—) on a shared device.

Your mobile phone, devices and computers all hold data about you, whether that’s personal information like names and addresses, photos or files and documents. It’s important to make sure you back up data like this in case it’s compromised. A data backup is when you make a copy of the information (i.e. photos, files, documents) and store it elsewhere, like a separate hard drive. Protect your backup with a strong password to prevent unauthorised access.