At times they can be so focused on their physical device they are unaware of their surroundings, especially when out in public. The potential is always there of their device being lost or stolen because it is so small and portable or having its data compromised.

That could mean others having access to their data, such as banking information, recent purchases, or those with whom they interact.

With the prevalent risks in mobile device security, authorities in the field recommend ways to reduce them.

Some of the steps can be setting a security or lock screen PIN to remove all data in a device if it is incorrectly entered a certain number of times in a row. The strongest code should have more than 4 digits and contain numeric, alphanumeric, uppercase, lowercase, and special characters.

It is also advisable by ios & android mobile app developers to regularly back up data and then encrypt the backups.

If a device is ever lost, some device location services include http://preyproject.com, http://www.locatemydroid.com, and Apple’s www.apple.com/icloud/setup/

Device owners can scan for malicious software, employ an Internet use tracker, take a picture of an unauthorized user behind the device, turn off the GPS location beacon, and remotely reset sensitive information such as their screen log in, banking PIN keys, or any other submitted log-in information. If a device cannot be retrieved, the information can be deleted and the user can buy a new phone.

Risks in this realm are ever present with the downloading and installing of a large number of apps--not knowing if these tools could be accessing sensitive data without permission.

Few online experiences could be as dire as what happened to Matt Honan, a senior writer for Wired. As he recounted, he lost his entire digital life when his data were compromised despite taking a number of precautions. Hackers infiltrated Honan’s Google e-mail due to having weak security controls.

The hackers took over his Google account, erasing eight years of e-mails. But authorities contend he could have stopped them beforehand using Google’s authentication feature.

Instead his g-mail account password was reset and the account deleted as well as having his Twitter account hijacked, his Apple account breached, and data removed from his iPhone, iPad, and Mac laptop.

Some device users may not be aware how vulnerable they are to potential security lapses.

Geo-tagging, the implementation of GPS coordinates onto images or when accessing Facebook from a specified location, can provide an indirect link to sensitive information. It’s best to change social networking privacy settings so that only those allowed can see personal photos.

It is possible to turn off geo-tagging on smartphones or tablets. One site with directions for doing that on some devices, including IOS and Android, is http://icanstalku.com/how.php#disable.

With mobile devices today, two common steps to take are jailbreaking and rooting to gain access to a phone’s underlying operating system, files, and commands. The purpose is to change the functions, bypassing security controls, to add new apps for different purposes.

The main difference here is the ability to do these on a particular device. Jailbreaking usually pertains to Apple products such as the iPhone, while rooting is used to describe most other Linux based devices like Android.

Even users who don’t want to take these actions may have them if they have purchased a used phone online that is reconfigured in this way.

Another risk in mobile devices is the presence of malware and the uncertainty of which app could be malicious.

Apple has the “App Store” and Google the “Google Play” for adding apps to their devices. Apple has the reputation of more closely monitoring its apps for malicious programs.

It’s always wise to look into the vendor or developer of an application. In addition, examine how the app uses its permissions within a device such as giving itself administrator access or how it goes about collecting data.

Peter Pachal, writing in PCMag, outlined ways to steer clear of Android malware.

Mobile device users should keep their software up to date. Although not the complete answer, Apple and Android have free antivirus software that can be downloaded to scan devices periodically.

They include:

For safeguarding data while it is in transit and not on a mobile device, owners of the device should ensure that communications involving private information--as with a bank--occur only between them and the organization with which they are dealing.

For these kinds of transactions especially it’s better not to connect through WiFi at Starbucks or airports or other public places if that can be avoided. Someone else connected at the same location could connect to a device or intercept data.

It can be harder to detect the queques that indicate a connection is secure as the displays are often small on the screen. At all times users should be careful in what they do and say while using their devices and when installing apps.