Summer’s finally here, so whether you intend to take a picnic to the park, play with the children in the garden or jet off to somewhere even sunnier, some simple precautions will keep you and your devices safe this summer.
Watch your devices
First up, physical security. With more outdoor activity it’s natural that it won’t only be your smartphone that travels with you. Parks these days are full of tablets and even lightweight laptops, to go with the many Kindles and Bluetooth speakers, so it pays to be aware of just how valuable your possessions are. Don’t leave them lying in plain sight on the blanket while you play Frisbee, and don’t take extra devices you don’t really need – or it could end up being an expensive afternoon in the sun.
As an extra security measure, make sure those devices you do want to take out with you are properly backed up. Whether that means uploading your music collection to a cloud service, such as Norton Online Backup, or physically backing up your hard drive to another location, make sure any files you can’t live without are safely stored somewhere else and not just on your smartphone. It’s also generally good advice to keep your smartphone in a zip-up pocket or a secure bag if you’re travelling in a busy city.
Data dilemmas
If you’re travelling abroad you’ll need to decide whether you want to switch on roaming, the setting that enables your phone to use overseas networks to send and receive data – usually at considerable extra cost. If you disable roaming you won’t be able to check your emails, browse the internet or use any location-tracking apps such as Google Maps, but you can be sure you won’t come home to bill shock at the end of your trip. If you do enable roaming, pay attention to the text messages you receive from the local network and your provider, as they should spell out any daily usage limits and fees.
If you opt instead to use the free Wi-Fi in hotels or cafes, it’s a good idea to assume all networks are insecure. Don’t do any online banking or log into any vital personal accounts.
Stay alert
Finally, throughout the holiday season you’ll be taking your devices all over the place, so be sure to keep a close eye on your bills each month. It’s harder than it used to be to rack up a huge bill without knowing it, but it’s still possible, so scan the numbers each month to make sure you aren’t paying for something that could easily be avoided.
Make sure your device stays protected wherever you are with Norton 360 Multi-Device.