Q: In your recent “Tips for a cyber-safe vacation,” you say to keep your antivirus software up to date on your mobile devices. But we have iPhone 5s, and we travel with my iPad mini (Retina) — from 2014. As far as I know the free Norton from Comcast that we have on our desktop & laptop (Windows 10 & 7) does not work on our iPhone 5s and iPad mini. Is there antivirus software we should have? We do use Cloak VPN on iPhones & iPad for hotel and airport Wi-Fi browsing and can use our Verizon cellular connections for any financial website should we need it while traveling (Wells Fargo, Schwab). — William Fowler, Centennial
Tech+ Good for you for taking that extra step of using a VPN, which creates a secure “tunnel” for your Internet communiqué. Comcast does offer Norton for iOS devices, but it’s not free, like the same software for PCs and Macs. Looks like the mobile Norton version will cost Comcast Xfinity customers $19.99, good for one year and for “all of your mobile devices,” including Android devices.
But hold the phone! Go to Norton directly at us.norton.com/norton-mobile-security and get the same software for $5.99 a year. The fine print is that after the first year, the subscription will renew at current rates.
Sleuth around a bit more, and you’ll find several brand-name security companies offer free software for mobile devices. McAfee, which is owned by Intel, has a free app at dpo.st/mcafeeapp.
Of course, Webroot is happy to step up, too. That’s the Broomfield company that shared its travel cybersecurity advice earlier with us. Webroot sells a mobile security app for $14.99, but also offers a stripped down version for free (the free version removes the ability to lock SIM cards, wipe the device, inspect apps and other things). You can find links to its products at dpo.st/webrootapp.
I don’t like recommending products I haven’t tried, so my tip to readers is to read user reviews and other sites to make sure these apps work and are ones you can live with.
On that note, check out these other highly rated apps:
- 360 Security Antivirus Boost, which made Android Authority’s top 15 list (also a good list to check) and is from China-based Qihoo 360 Technology.
- Digital Trends gave top props to ESET Mobile Security & Antivirus for “100 percent detection rate” and to the barebones AVL.
- And if you need even more options, check the AV Test, which calls itself “IT security institute.” It actually tested apps to see how well they do against viruses, malware and other cyber mayhem. AV’s results are posted at dpo.st/avtest
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