Smartphones frequently act as the control centres where we schedule meetings, send e-mails and socialise. To satisfy these needs, they require personal information.
Our lives are documented and stored in e-mails, social networks and the apps we install on our phones. All this information syncs seamlessly with your work PC or your tablet. And after initial set up, it might not even prompt you for a password again. Wonderful news if you are terrible at remembering passwords. Also, wonderful news if you are the thief who steals a smartphone.
What information would a clever criminal get his hands on if you lose your smartphone now? Banking information? A copy of your ID or passport saved somewhere in your e-mail? All your holiday photos on Dropbox?
Here are a few tips to ensure he won’t be able to get to it:
- Always enable the password option on your phone to lock your screen. Most phones have various options – typing in a password, a pin code or even swiping a sequence of dots. This is your first line of defence.
- Don’t select “remember password” on any of your apps or your e-mail applications. Yes, it is a nuisance to type in your password, but do you really want someone else to read your e-mails?
- Turn off cookies and autofill. This prevents your device from remembering your username and possibly even your password at websites you regularly visit.
- If you need to access sensitive information, e.g. banking, rather go to the website, via a web browser, than using an app.
- Set up your phone to be tracked if you do lose it. (Read our previous instructions on locating lost or stolen devices here.) A device can also be wiped remotely in some cases, which at least ensures that your information doesn’t end up being used, even though your actual device is.
Remember that you also need to remove ALL personal data (for example e-mails, SMS’s and telephone numbers) and anything which could connect you to the phone when you sell or dispose of it.
