Hacking phones worries us the most

Search results for “smart appliances” have increased by 300% as people become addicted to devices that promise to make life easier.

Alarmingly, a recent report from Which revealed that a home with smart gadgets can be vulnerable to 12,000 hacking attacks in a single week.

BespokeSoftwareSolutions was intrigued by this and used the online analysis tool Ahrefs to find the product we are most concerned about being hacked.

Hacking phones worries us the most

BespokeSoftwareSolutions reveals that the product we should be most worried about being hacked is our phones, with a whopping 716,400 global web searches per year. As phones have become an integral part of modern life, it’s no surprise that we worry about them being hacked, with important passwords and financial and personal information all at risk. Spikes in data usage, performance issues, pop-ups or changes to the screen are all indicators that your phone has been hacked.

Second is the computer, with a total of 31,920 global web searches per year related to hacking. If your computer is hacked, the hacker can steal your personal data or delete the programs you have installed, so if you see frequent pop-ups (especially those asking you to visit strange websites), act quickly.

The iPad is third with a total of 29,160 global web searches per year. Apple has made changes and implemented more security in its latest updates, but older devices are still vulnerable to hacking.

In fourth place is Wi-Fi with 23,760 annual searches and completing the top five is Amazon Alexa with 16,800 annual searches in relation to hacking.

A spokesperson at BespokeSoftwareSolutions shared their tips for making sure your smart products are safe:

While it’s easy to think that you could be the next person to be hacked, there are some simple steps you can take that will undoubtedly improve the security of your smart products.

Change the default password and get a password manager

A weak default password is one of the easiest ways for one of your devices to get hacked. All your passwords for online accounts should be different, strong and unique. For example, your Instagram password should not be the same as your Amazon or online banking password. Using a password manager is an easy way around this. Password managers generate secure passwords for you, and you’ll never have to struggle to remember another password again.

Keep your products completely up to date

Since our phones, laptops, and apps are all open to a hacking attack, it’s fortunate that the companies that make them are constantly looking for new bugs, fixing them, and implementing more stringent security measures in new updates. So always remember to download and update the latest versions of apps and software as soon as they become available.

Be wary of phishing

We’ve all received texts or emails informing us that someone is trying to log into our accounts or that we’ve spent money we don’t remember spending. The most important thing to remember is to think twice before clicking on any of these links, as they may be scams. Check the validity of the email address you received this message from, as there will usually be a key letter or a misused bit of grammar in the address, such as a misplaced period, indicating that it is most likely fake.

Enable two-factor authentication

One of the best ways to protect your online accounts from even the most sophisticated hackers is to use two-factor authentication. The second step of authentication makes it much more difficult for a hacker to gain access to your accounts because it combines two factors, either your username or password and then your phone number or possibly something physical like a fingerprint as a way to verify authorization. If your username or email address has been compromised, adding this extra layer of security will give you extra protection.

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