Cellular Safety
Shopping for a pre-owned telephone doesn’t need to imply compromising your safety – take these steps to get pleasure from the advantages of cutting-edge expertise at a fraction of the fee
09 Dec 2024
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5 min. learn
The fashionable smartphone has turn into an indispensable piece of expertise. These highly effective, pocket-sized computer systems allow us to do every thing from hailing cabs to consulting with our native physician. However prices will be prohibitive. Unsurprisingly, second-hand and refurbished units have turn into an more and more well-liked choice, offering entry to premium expertise at a fraction of the worth and interesting to budget-conscious shoppers or these searching for sustainability.
Smartphones are additionally usually among the many most desired presents in the course of the vacation season. The newest fashions could also be out of attain for a lot of as a result of their excessive worth, so second-hand telephones current a extra inexpensive choice for gift-givers.
Additionally, any individuals improve their smartphones in the course of the vacation season, both as presents to themselves or as a result of they’ve acquired a brand new telephone as a gift. This creates a secondary marketplace for pre-owned units as they promote or commerce of their previous fashions.
The important thing drawback is just not understanding what situation these units will arrive in. To keep away from unwittingly exposing your self to cyber-risk, take trip to think about the next ideas.
What are the dangers of pre-owned telephones?
Due to persistently excessive rates of interest and inflation throughout a lot of the Western world, second-hand telephones are more and more commonplace. In reality, gross sales generated over $13bn globally within the first quarter of 2023 alone, up 14% yearly, in line with one estimate. In a mature market just like the UK, 1 / 4 of all telephones offered in 2023 had been reportedly second-hand or refurbished.
But this comes with sure cybersecurity dangers. These embody:
Outdated software program
Some units could now not be supported by the producer, that means the underlying working system doesn’t obtain software program updates. That’s dangerous information from a safety perspective, because it implies that when vulnerabilities are discovered by researchers or risk actors, your system received’t get a safety patch to repair it. It is going to successfully be uncovered to attackers. One 2020 examine within the UK discovered that almost a 3rd of fashions being resold had been now not supported with safety updates.
Malware
In some circumstances, a earlier proprietor could even have (unwittingly or not) put in malicious software program on the telephone. This can be designed to do quite a lot of issues, from steal your private data and passwords to snoop in your calls and messages. It might even flood the system with undesirable adverts or subscribe you to premium-rate companies. The top aim is often to generate income in a roundabout way off you, both by stealing private and monetary data to be used in fraud or digital extortion.
No refurbishment checks
Some pre-owned telephones could not have undergone the form of checks that respected second-hand sellers carry out to make sure they’re operational and working on a supported OS. This may occasionally expose you to a few of the dangers outlined above.
How you can keep away from cyber dangers on second-hand units
Mitigating these dangers takes a multi-pronged method, beginning with due diligence in the course of the shopping for course of. That successfully means doing all your analysis. Second-hand units can be found from all kinds of sources, from producers themselves to high-street retailers, telcos, and personal sellers. Put the time in to verify the vendor has good opinions and their supply is official. A guaranty of no less than a 12 months needs to be a baseline requirement to make sure high quality.
It is also greatest to keep away from jailbroken or rooted units, as these could have had safety features disabled which make them extra uncovered to threats.
Additionally, solely select units which are nonetheless supported by the producer; often, phone-makers will help a handset for no less than 2-3 years after it’s launched.
To additional mitigate safety dangers, think about the next after buy:
- do a full manufacturing facility reset, wiping any knowledge which will have been left on the system by the earlier proprietor, together with contacts, images, messages, searching historical past, passwords and apps,
- replace all of the software program on the system after buying to the most recent, most safe model, and change on computerized updates,
- maintain a watch out for tell-tale indicators that it is perhaps compromised with malware, akin to undesirable pop-ups or adverts, apps showing that you just didn’t obtain, or sluggish efficiency and unusually excessive battery utilization,
- set up safety software program from a good supplier and have it scan the system for threats.
As soon as your system is up and working, think about the next greatest practices to mitigate ongoing safety dangers:
- arrange a display lock and PIN, password, or biometric authentication (face recognition/fingerprint scan) for safe entry
- backup your knowledge and set to computerized backups to the cloud in case the system is misplaced or stolen
- delete any unused apps to reduce your assault floor
- change on system encryption for an additional layer of safety
- all the time use multi-factor authentication to entry your system and any software program/accounts on it
- flip Bluetooth, tethering or Wi-Fi off when not in use, to keep away from eavesdroppers snooping round
- test your app permissions – if some apps are requesting entry to greater than is critical, that needs to be a pink flag
- solely obtain apps from official app shops and from respected builders
- be looking out for phishing messages and emails. If unsure, by no means click on on hyperlinks or open attachments contained in these messages. At all times contact the supposed sender individually first, or open the message on a safer machine
- keep away from utilizing public Wi-Fi with out a VPN.
In case you’re nonetheless involved about your pre-owned telephone exposing you to safety dangers, don’t entry any delicate data or accounts when utilizing it – akin to cell banking or syncing together with your company accounts. In reality, in case your employer permits BYOD handsets within the office, there could also be a further algorithm and insurance policies you want to observe to make sure that your second-hand system can be utilized. The dangers outlined above could possibly be amplified if risk actors handle to make use of your handset as a stepping stone to achieve company knowledge and techniques.
That stated, there’s no purpose why a pre-owned telephone ought to trigger undue stress and safety danger, so long as you observe these greatest practices. And if you happen to resolve handy it on to another person, bear in mind to carry out a full backup, knowledge erasure and manufacturing facility reset.
