Technology Tips – Published September 2024 in the Guide and Digest
By Don Trauger – Kennett
Turning off your cell phone completely protects it.
Surprisingly, this includes a very basic function that not many people do: switching off the cell phone completely. According to security experts at NSA (National Security Agency), this alone helps to protect the device from hacking attacks. With the power off it will not function and of course it will be protected against malware and also zero-click exploits.
But there is still an issue. If you have not recorded a Voicemail greeting for your Voicemail, then the caller will not hear it and if it’s a malware call, they can seize the phone and take control even if it’s off. If you haven’t recorded a greeting then complete the following steps. First, on Android phones open the Voicemail app. It may be part of the normal phone app Tap the 3 vertical dots at the upper right, then tap Settings. If you see More Options, click that first then tap Settings. In Settings tap Voicemail. Next, tap Advanced Settings and tap Setup. Just enter your complete cell phone number. Lastly, tap the left arrow at the bottom left corner of the screen twice and tap Voicemail Greeting. Tap Record a greeting, then record your greeting. If you already have a greeting, you will see My voicemail greeting with the recorded time in seconds.
Any incoming call, while your phone is off, will be stored with your cell phone provider. Not only will clean calls be recorded but also potentially malware calls. Keep in mind they are not calling you back as you can only hear their message, if there is one. In any case you need to check the number that called with what is stored in your contacts list. If you don’t see it, search it in Google.
So how often should I turn off my phone?
The simple answer from security experts as to how often a phone should be turned off completely is: at least once a week.