1. Do not give anyone else your account credentials.
2. Make sure you have ‘Two Factor Authentication’ turned on your account.
3. Do not share accounts with others. If you are part of a family, set up family sharing per Apple guidelines.
4. Make sure the email account you use for your Apple ID is unique. Don’t use a email account that you have used for everything else online.
5. Make sure your Apple ID password is a mix of lower and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols. The longer the better. The password should only be used for your Apple ID and it should be obscure and something only you would know.
6. Have at least 2 trusted phone numbers associated with your account, in case you lose access to your primary phone and need to validate your Apple ID account for product setup etc.
7. The passcode on your phone should (ideally) be alphanumeric. Do not use a four or 6 digit passcode. If you want to use digits, make sure the passcode is 10 -12 digits long. Do not use digits that correspond with birthdate, street address, or anything else that can be easily associated with your identity.
8. Do not allow other people to use your phone.
9. Get a privacy screen protector for your phone. People next to you should not be able to see what you are entering for your passcode, Apple ID, or any other highly sensitive information.
10. Make sure you do not give Siri access to execute commands while your phone is locked. The same goes for iMessage, mail and other apps as well. You do not want personal information accessible from a locked phone. Giving Siri and other apps access to execute commands from a locked state makes it easy for other people see and read information they shouldn’t, not to mention making it easier to gain entry into your phone, should someone grab it after you just set it down or it gets stolen etc.
11. Make sure you read over the policy statement for any app you want to install on your phone, before installation. Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and several others are notorious for data mining and selling your personal information to the highest bidder. If you want to keep in touch with family, there are safer ways to do it, than giving Facebook et al access to you across the internet.
12. Only install apps from the Apple App Store.
13. Jailbreaking your phone is not advisable, as the OS exploits it uses to give users nonstandard options are a security threat and can also put your phone hardware at risk of nonstandard abuse etc.
14. Set your phone to lock after 30 seconds. Extending that to 1 minute or more as some people do, can make it easier for someone to access your phone.
15. Do not use Wi-Fi services unless you first connect to a secure VPN service or a firewall. Connecting to and using a public Wi-Fi without being secure behind a vetted VPN service, is akin to leaving your house open all the time and placing a sign in the yard telling everyone the door is open and they can come and go as they please, when using your personal property.
These are just a few guidelines that I hope you will give earnest thought to and implement on a daily basis with your new iPhone purchase.
2. Make sure you have ‘Two Factor Authentication’ turned on your account.
3. Do not share accounts with others. If you are part of a family, set up family sharing per Apple guidelines.
4. Make sure the email account you use for your Apple ID is unique. Don’t use a email account that you have used for everything else online.
5. Make sure your Apple ID password is a mix of lower and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols. The longer the better. The password should only be used for your Apple ID and it should be obscure and something only you would know.
6. Have at least 2 trusted phone numbers associated with your account, in case you lose access to your primary phone and need to validate your Apple ID account for product setup etc.
7. The passcode on your phone should (ideally) be alphanumeric. Do not use a four or 6 digit passcode. If you want to use digits, make sure the passcode is 10 -12 digits long. Do not use digits that correspond with birthdate, street address, or anything else that can be easily associated with your identity.
8. Do not allow other people to use your phone.
9. Get a privacy screen protector for your phone. People next to you should not be able to see what you are entering for your passcode, Apple ID, or any other highly sensitive information.
10. Make sure you do not give Siri access to execute commands while your phone is locked. The same goes for iMessage, mail and other apps as well. You do not want personal information accessible from a locked phone. Giving Siri and other apps access to execute commands from a locked state makes it easy for other people see and read information they shouldn’t, not to mention making it easier to gain entry into your phone, should someone grab it after you just set it down or it gets stolen etc.
11. Make sure you read over the policy statement for any app you want to install on your phone, before installation. Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, Instagram and several others are notorious for data mining and selling your personal information to the highest bidder. If you want to keep in touch with family, there are safer ways to do it, than giving Facebook et al access to you across the internet.
12. Only install apps from the Apple App Store.
13. Jailbreaking your phone is not advisable, as the OS exploits it uses to give users nonstandard options are a security threat and can also put your phone hardware at risk of nonstandard abuse etc.
14. Set your phone to lock after 30 seconds. Extending that to 1 minute or more as some people do, can make it easier for someone to access your phone.
15. Do not use Wi-Fi services unless you first connect to a secure VPN service or a firewall. Connecting to and using a public Wi-Fi without being secure behind a vetted VPN service, is akin to leaving your house open all the time and placing a sign in the yard telling everyone the door is open and they can come and go as they please, when using your personal property.
These are just a few guidelines that I hope you will give earnest thought to and implement on a daily basis with your new iPhone purchase.
