{"id":103271,"date":"2025-07-15T13:21:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T17:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=103271"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:30:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T20:30:37","slug":"brock-its-shares-phone-cybersecurity-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/07\/brock-its-shares-phone-cybersecurity-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock ITS shares phone cybersecurity tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From photos and messages to everyday apps, phones hold a great deal of <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/security\/you-are-the-target\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sensitive information<\/a>, which can make them attractive targets for cybercriminals.<\/p>\n<p>To help Brock students, faculty and staff protect their devices and data, the University\u2019s Information Technology Services (ITS) team is sharing <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/security\/mobile-devices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">phone cybersecurity<\/a> advice.<\/p>\n<p>Common phone cybersecurity threats to be aware of include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/service-catalogue\/security-and-access\/cyber-security-awareness-and-training\/phishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Phishing<\/a>, a strategy that uses fake emails, texts, <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/security\/social-networks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">social media<\/a> messages or calls to steal personal information or manipulate users into download malware.<\/li>\n<li>Malicious apps, which can often mimic legitimate apps, that collect personal information or cause users to download malware.<\/li>\n<li>Fake public Wi-Fi networks, which are unsecured networks cybercriminals use to steal sensitive data and compromise device security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Brock ITS advises users protect their phones and personal information by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enabling <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/security\/multi-factor-authentication\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">multi-factor authentication<\/a>, which makes it harder for cybercriminals to access phones, especially if it\u2019s lost or stolen.<\/li>\n<li>Enabling a lock screen with a PIN, fingerprint or facial recognition to help protect their phones when lost or left unattended and setting their phones up to lock automatically after inactivity.<\/li>\n<li>Being wary of suspicious calls and messages, which could be phishing scams, and verifying requests for personal information by contacting organizations directly using official website details.<\/li>\n<li>Reviewing app permissions, such as access to a phone\u2019s location or camera, and checking the terms and privacy policy for information on how collected data will be used.<\/li>\n<li>Avoiding or uninstalling apps with excessive or unclear data collection permissions.<\/li>\n<li>Connecting to <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/information-technology\/security\/tips-for-securely-working-off-campus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">secure, verified Wi-Fi networks<\/a> that don\u2019t ask for personal information and confirming the correct Wi-Fi network with someone employed by the venue.<\/li>\n<li>Using a VPN on public Wi-Fi, which can offer additional protection but doesn\u2019t fully prevent malware.<\/li>\n<li>Ensuring the apps and operating systems are up-to-date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Brock community members can also reach out to ITS with questions about smartphone cybersecurity or forward suspicious messages to\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:itsecurity@brocku.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">itsecurity@brocku.ca<\/a>\u00a0for the IT Security team to investigate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From photos and messages to everyday apps, phones hold a great deal of sensitive information, which can make them attractive targets for cybercriminals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[54,7],"tags":[5331,7822],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103271"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103279,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103271\/revisions\/103279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}