Tips and Tricks on How to Protect Your iPhone – The Geek Girl Report

When you think of hackers, you usually think computers, right? But your PC isn't the only device in danger of being hacked. iPhones can be hacked just like a computer, and just because you don't hear about it doesn't mean it's not happening. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help protect your iPhone from any would-be hackers or thieves.

Passcode Lock

One of the simplest security measures you can take is by putting a passcode lock on your iPhone. You can go with either the default 4-digit passcode, or you can create a more complex alpha-numeric passcode. Either way, having one of these will help prevent unwanted access to your iPhone. There are also several other security measures you can take involving the passcode:

• You can enable voice dial even if your phone is locked. If you have the iPhone 4S, you can choose to enable access to Siri when your phone is locked.
• You can also enable the "Erase Data" feature, which will erase all the data on your iPhone after 10 failed passcode attempts.

Find My iPhone

This app, courtesy of Apple, does exactly what it says. It will track the location of your iPhone if it has been stolen. And with the introduction of iOS 4.2, you can do much more than simply track it: you can completely wipe your phone clean remotely. That will prevent the thieves from getting to your personal data, and if the phone is recovered, you can use the backup data to restore all the information on your phone.

Backup Encryption

While we're on the subject of backing up data, it might be a good idea to encrypt the backup data for your phone. To put it in simpler terms, you can put a password on your backup data. This will prevent the sneakier thieves for trying to access your iPhone data without using an iPhone. You can do this through iTunes on your computer by selecting "Encrypt iPhone backup."

Restrictions

If you really want to go the extra mile on security, try enabling restrictions on your iPhone. This feature will require you to enter a password (different from your passcode) in order to use certain features of your iPhone, like Safari, YouTube and installing or deleting apps.  You can also use restrictions to determine what sort of content your iPhone will allow, like explicit music. It's kind of like Parental Controls for your iPhone, and also a good security feature.

Security Apps

As you can see, there are a few things you can do to protect you iPhone, but it might not be enough. You can still face threats from viruses, hacks, all sorts of nasty stuff. That's why it's a good idea to look into some third-party security apps for your iPhone. Check out this list of apps to help protect your phone, courtesy of eweek.com.