The U.S. National Security Agency recommends turning off and restarting your phone once a week as a preventive measure to guard against cyberattacks that exploit temporary files.
Why Restarting Your Phone Matters
According to Darren Guccione, cybersecurity expert and CEO of Keeper Security, restarting your phone resets its software, helping to clear potential issues that accumulate over time. Guccione explains that smartphones, like computers, run background processes and applications that can slow down performance, cause errors, or create security vulnerabilities.
By turning off your phone, you halt these processes, close potential security loopholes, and clear temporary files that may contain sensitive information.
While restarting your device won’t solve all security problems, it’s a helpful step to enhance performance and reduce certain risks.
Additional Steps to Strengthen Security
Restarting your phone is not a comprehensive solution. Guccione and other experts recommend complementing it with these practices:
- Keep Your System and Apps Updated
Security expert Chris Hauk emphasizes the importance of regular updates for your phone’s operating system and applications. Updates often include security patches that protect against known vulnerabilities. - Download Apps from Trusted Sources
Only download apps from official app stores and avoid unreliable third-party websites to reduce security risks. - Disable Bluetooth When Not in Use
While inconvenient for some users, disabling Bluetooth minimizes exposure to potential external attacks. - Avoid Public Wi-Fi Networks
Public Wi-Fi networks pose significant security risks as you cannot control who else is on the same network. If you must use public Wi-Fi, consider activating a VPN to encrypt your connection and protect your data.
Restarting your phone regularly is a simple but effective measure to enhance security and performance. Combined with these additional steps, it provides stronger protection against cyber threats.
