By Sabrina Karl

In today’s world, you carry an immense amount of sensitive personal information almost everywhere you go. That’s because your cell phone stores usernames, passwords, account numbers, emails, texts, and personal photos and videos.

Fortunately, it’s not hard to put roadblocks in the way of thieves and hackers who might try to use your phone to steal your identity or buy things with your credit cards or bank accounts. Four simple steps recommended by the Federal Trade Commission can make a world of difference in reducing your risk.

First, make sure you have your phone set to lock whenever you’re not using it, and to only allow unlocking with a secure method. This can be a numeric passcode (if so, 6-digit codes are more secure than 4 digits), or it may be biometric, like a fingerprint or face scan. This is your first line of defense against anyone trying to gain access to your phone’s data.

Second, embrace your phone’s operating system updates. Whenever security vulnerabilities are identified, software updates are released to close the door on those risks. But these security patches only work on phones where they’ve been installed, so either set your phone to automatically install updates or manually install any updates as soon as you see them become available.

Third, if you lose your phone, you won’t also lose your data if you regularly back it up to the cloud or to your computer. So be sure to set an automatic backup system that regularly runs without needing your input.

Lastly, turn on the feature in your phone’s settings to help find your phone should you lose it. This can help reunite you with your phone, or may alternatively enable you to lock and erase your phone if you feel it has fallen into dangerous hands.