Virgin Media Offer 1 Year of FREE F-Secure Security to Mobile Subscribers

Customers of Virgin Mobile (Virgin Media) can now benefit from a year’s worth of free access to Mobile security software from F-Secure (F-Secure SAFE and F-Secure KEY Premium Password Manager), which can be installed on up to 5 devices.

The F-Secure SAFE software, which is supported by both Android and iOS (iPhone etc.) based Mobile devices, includes virus protection, web browsing and banking protection, finder and device wipe, parental controls, application privacy protection and the F-Secure KEY password manager.

The software normally costs £79.99, although Virgin Mobile customers will get it free for one year and then 70% off thereafter (i.e. £25 per year). Customers of Virgin Media’s various ultrafast cable broadband packages can already receive this.

Jeff Dodds, MD of Virgin Mobile, said:

“While Brits spend more time browsing the web on their smartphones than on laptops, our research shows a lack of awareness about security. Not enough people are protecting themselves from the growing threat of cybercrime on the very device they use the most. We’re helping to protect our customers from these online risks with advanced security software bundled into their existing plans.”

Naturally the operator has included a few statistics to help encourage their mobile customers to take security more seriously, which is based on a recent survey of 2,006 UK adults by Opinium Research. The study found that 94% believe their data security is important, yet only 34% have installed anti-virus software on their mobile phone and that’s despite 19% of mobile phone users falling victim to online fraud or cybercrime.

Apparently 17% of respondents also admitted to storing passwords on their mobile phone. Of these Brits, over two-fifths (43%) save passwords in the Notes app, 28% save them as names in their contacts book and 26% list them in their contacts book under celebrity names. Only 21% actually store their passwords in a Password Manager. Mind you keeping everything in a single password manager can carry its own risks.

We also get treated to a list of security tips from Dr Jessica Barker, Director of cyber.uk.

Dr. Jessica Barker’s Top 10 Tips

1. Use a strong password to protect access to your phone: remember that you can use letters and special characters as well as numerical PINs
2. Be wary of links and attachments in emails: if you’re not expecting to receive anything from someone, check with them before you click to download or open
3. Protect your accounts: it’s very important to use a different, strong password for each account, which password managers can make much easier
4. Update your phone as soon as you are prompted to do so: updates are often pushed out to stop your phone being open to hacking from known vulnerabilities
5. Beware of less secure public WiFi networks, for example in coffee shops, because you don’t know how secure the network is. If you do use public WiFi, especially for something sensitive like online banking, consider using a Virtual Private Network** (research VPNs online as some are better than others)
6. Set up two-factor authentication on your online accounts: two-factor authentication means you have two provide two pieces of information rather than one  – for example your own password and a one-off password that you receive by text.  It’s easy to do and very effective at stopping people breaking in to your accounts
7. Back up the data on your phone: if the phone is lost or stolen, or the data becomes unavailable, you will then still have a copy of your precious photos and documents
8. Be careful of apps that you download: check how credible and trustworthy the apps are by searching for what other people have said about them online
9. Remember, if something is free, you are often paying with your data! Social media sites and apps sometimes want access to your contacts, your geographic location and more
10. Your smartphone is a computer: you should protect it in the same way, for example by installing anti-virus software