7 tips to protect your information on your smartphone

NEW YORK (WABC) -- How many times have you lost or misplaced your smart phone?

It's happened to all us.

And yet many of us put sensitive information in our smart phones. If it were to get into the wrong hands it could mean big problems.

7 On Your Side has 7 things you need to do to protect yourself.

Most people will carry the same wallet their whole lives, but will lose or change their phone at least twice, yet we are far more careless with our phone than with our wallets.

It is time to rethink that!

A fictional film shows how easy it is for someone to pretend they're you, and making it even easier for thieves now is that phones are quickly replacing wallets.

"If you could lock your wallet you would, so why not lock your phone?" said Adam Levin, of Identity Theft 911, "This just had credit cards and some information; this has everything this is the gateway to your life."

So lock it, advises Adam Levin, founder of Identity Theft 911.

The first layer of protection is a strong password, not simple sequences like 1-2-3-4 or your birth date.

"This is not foolproof but what it will do is slow people down," Levin said.

Millions of us are also dumb about what we enter onto our digital devices which can lead to the demise of our most delicate information.

Tip number two is don't store sensitive data on your phone.

"They're putting on their phones about everything that you can put on your phone to get yourself in trouble. I mean they're putting on credit card information, social security, account information," Levin said.

Adam advises against being too lazy to type.

Saving USERIDS and password to your device mean easy access for you and a thief.

"People tend to take convenience over security. And that means, if they can click the little box that says save my user is, which often times is your password because that's the default user ID they're even some cases that say 'save my password,'" Levin said.

Tip number 4, is that most of us multitask on our phones all day long and stayed logged in to multiple sites, leaving financial assets just a click away, always click log-off.

Tip number 5 is online shoppers should be careful using an internet browser instead of a stores dedicated shopping app when shopping on your Smartphone.

Store apps like Amazons are designed by retailers to protect you from scammers.

If you have a choice use a dedicated store app to shop just make sure it's really the official app before downloading.

Tip number 6 can save your battery power and your identity; don't allow your phone to automatically connect to any available Wi-Fi or blue tooth connection.

"If you're cruising around and they see that you're connected they have the ability to crawl into your computer," Levin said.

Tip number 7 is when upgrading your phone don't forget to wipe the old one clean. This is one of the most common ways someone can steal you ID. Just erasing it isn't good enough. Click to learn how to delete things correctly: http://blog.credit.com/2013/01/the-10-dumbest-risks-people-take-on-their-smartphones/

CONNECT WITH NINA PINEDA AND 7 ON YOUR SIDE

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smartphones, identity theft, id theft, 7 on your side, nina pineda

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