Official Android Device Manager To Track Your Phone Now Available

Google have finally released its Android device manager which allows you to track, locate and wipe your phone should the need arise. 

This device manager is like the Apple's version of Find My iPhone.

Before now, Android device owners turn to third-party apps to achieve this essential phone security feature but thanks to Google, an official version is now available. Of course this is long overdue, however, its better late than never. 

To use this service, the Android device must have had the back-end update which stealthy installs on the device when connected to the Internet and then activated. 

To activate, go to Settings>Security > Device Administrators and look for new "Android Device Manager". Check the box and you are good to go. 

The images below should give you a better guide.

I have done this on quite a few Android devices including Tecno F7 and it works well. 

 

As mentioned earlier, Android Device manager let you locate, recover, sound alarm, wipe and lock your device in case it gets stolen, lost or inaccessible.

To locate or track  your Android device, make sure your Android Device Manager is activated as described above, visit the Android Device Manager website and then login with your Google account.

Once logged in, you would see your device info displayed to the left as shown above and you can perform any action you choose; Ring, Erase, Rename and Locate device.

All features works well without issues. Of course location is much more accurate when GPS, WiFi is enabled and also when one is outdoors. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

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Apple's New iOS 7 Would Reduce iPhone Theft

Sequel to the last meeting held between smartphone makers and some government agencies including security experts concerning the rate at which smartphone theft are becoming more prevalent in the society especially the iPhone which as been stolen more than any other smartphone. 

Apple have made up a new way to deter thieves from stealing iOS devices.

This new feature which would be present in iOS 7 would help curb the rate at which iPhone, iPad  and iPod are stolen.

To achieve this, whenever one of these devices is stolen, it would become impossible to erase. Before one can erase any of these devices running iOS 7, one would need to input both the Apple ID and password of the owner.

Without these parameters inputted, the device won't allow the anyone to erase and restore the device.

This will definitely serve as a deterrent to iDevice theft. 

Although, it's a good way to reduce smartphone theft for iDevices yet it far from complete. 

Also,  other smartphone  manufacturers, Google and Microsoft, haven't revealed a concrete way to stop thieves from going after their devices or render it useless even when stolen.

LoJack would be the app of choice to achieve this feat as it's currently being tested for the possibility of being security app for reducing smartphone theft. 

Apple's method have been given a thumbs up by security experts and seems very promising. 

Of course, like any human initiatives, there would be flaws and that suggests that Apple's method won't cut it in the near future when a work around is implemented to bypass to security feature. 

Things You Should Do When You Buy a New Smartphone

At one point in time we get to buy a new smartphone, these smartphones are not like the phones we use back in the day when we only receive calls and send text messages. Smartphones do much more and therefore what you do to when purchase a 21 century smartphone is quite different from that of the old time phone.

Let say you got a new Blackberry smartphone or an Android or Apple smartphone, there are lists of things you should consider doing immediately. Some of these things will be a life saver at some point in the near future especially in an era where phone theft is a huge business for some people. Below, I have highlighted these things that we sometime take for granted and overlook until something happens to the smartphone. These things that one must do are quite easy and sensible if you look at it.

THINGS YOU SHOULD DO WHEN YOU BUY A NEW SMARTPHONE

1. First thing first is to setup your device as new and input the email address you want to associate with the device. Choose the email that you use most frequently use and make sure its well secured. 

2. Next is to open an account that will allow you download and install apps on your smartphone. For Android device users, you will definitely need a Google account setup on the device, without a Google account, you won't be able to download anything from Google Play Store.

For Apple device users, you will need to create Apple account and the same goes for Blackberry and Windows Phone device users.

3. Next step is to connect your device to  your computer and sync with a desktop manager. This will help register your device as personal as it can be. For example, Apple devices uses iTunes to manage their devices, Blackberry uses Blackberry Desktop Manager. With this, you would familiarize yourself with the way to backup, transfer between device and computer. Also, if you have contacts from Outlook, it will be easy to import instead of having to re-transfer all contacts from your current phone. Backing up your contacts locally can't be overstressed and its more secured than backing up in the cloud.

4. Once you have done the things listed above, the next thing is to install certain apps. The first on the list is a tracking and security apps. For users of Apple devices, Find My iPhone is a good one, not the best though. For users of Blackberry devices, Blackberry Protect should be installed. If you have an Android device, Androidlost should be installed. 

All these tracking apps are free and do their best to help get your device back in case it was stolen or lost.

5. Now, you can start installing other applications as you need them. 

6. I know its customary for some people to throw away the pack of their smartphone and lose their purchase receipt after unboxing. However, i would suggest that you do not throw it away as it contains information like your IMEI and a proof of ownership. This will come in handy if you need to totally block a device that has been stolen. With your IMEI number, you can request your network carrier to place a ban on the device so that it becomes unusable in the country. This is very important.

There it is folks, this list may not be enough but it should suffice for now. 
If there are other things you want me to add to the list, please feel free to suggest it.

*All these apps can be downloaded from the web mostly from different preloaded App Store app on the smartphone.

How To Increase Your Google Account Security

We are in that age and era where cyber crime and account hijacking are on the increase. 
So many a people have fallen prey to these attacks due to little knowledge on how to securely increase the security of their online accounts.

A lot of people use more than 3 Google products ranging from Gmail, YouTube, Google+, Google Doc, Picasa and Google Wallet on a daily basis and these accounts are connected to online applications and websites.
Invariably, if someone gets control of your Google password either directly or from other websites/applications, almost all Google services one uses becomes compromised: that would be a disaster.
This post is to help Google account users to further increase security on said accounts and provide at least a greater level of account security than the uninformed individual. Although Google tries as much as possible to secure accounts of its users, still a little extra fortifying is better and won't hurt.

Requirements
1. You have a Google account

2. You have authorised access to this account

Procedures
1. In your browser, log in to www.google.com. If you are doing this on a mobile device, scroll down and click Classic to switch to the desktop format.

2. Tap or click on on your name close to your avatar on the top-right corner of the Window.

3. Click Accounts and then click on Security at the left hand side of the opened page.

4. Scroll down to where you have Notification Types and check the boxes under Phone. Enter your personal phone number when presented with the page and confirm the number with the code that would be sent to your phone.
This will allow Google to notify you of any suspicious activity on your account by phone. Immediately you can quickly proceed to rectify the bridge

5. Next, scroll down to connected Applications and Sites. Click on manage access.

6. Manage access of website and applications you have allowed to access your Google account by clicking on Revoke access. Once you do this, these applications/website will no longer have unrestricted access to your account. Choose wisely.  

7. When done, go back to the previous page and click on Profile and Privacy at the left side of the page.

8. Click Public Profile Information. Let it load the page completely until you see a page shown below. Here you would able to change who sees some of your Basic information and who doesn't. This would give hackers less access to information they can use to hack into your account.  
There are different information that can be altered in this page, so take time to study each information page and alter as you desire.

9. Also, it is best that you don't use your Google account password on any other website or applications.

10. Once done, scroll down and click Save. Scroll up, at the right hand side of the page and change view profile as Yourself to view profile as Public. This will give you a view of what other people see when they check your page. you can always change back the view options.

I hope you find this post helpful. Drop your comments if you feel I should add more tips and details.