Lost Your Company Phone? Mobile Device Wiping Has Your Back
Source: venturebeat.com
It’s happened to most of us, you tap your pants pocket expecting to feel the familiar weight of your cell phone. To your dismay, you realize the pocket is empty and frantically begin the search for your missing phone.
In those moments of panic, you can find solace in the fact that your company may have implemented safeguards in its Mobile Device Management (MDM) to help protect all the sensitive data stored within the memory of your mobile device. This is why mobile device wiping is so important.
Many phones contain emails with private information about clients, or maybe the username and password for your personal mobile banking app autofills upon opening the app. What if a malicious actor gained access to your company’s network through a VPN connection from your mobile phone? These are just a few reasons among many why you need to have a backup plan if your phone is lost or stolen. This blog will provide a quick overview of mobile device wiping and what can be done from both a personal and business standpoint.
Do It Yourself:
First, if you are missing a company phone, step one is to follow your company’s protocol and report the phone lost or stolen as soon as possible. If you lose your phone on Saturday night, DO NOT WAIT FOR MONDAY TO REPORT IT STOLEN. Even a short delay could be disastrous for you, your clients, and your workplace. Fortunately, each of the most popular phone platforms has a way to remotely access and either perform mobile device wiping, lock or locate your missing phone. Ideally, you should always have your phone locked when not in use, but in case you don’t, locking it remotely until it is found is essential.
For Apple devices, one of the most popular tools is a feature of Apple iCloud, according to an article from PC Mag.com. If you set up Find My iPhone within iCloud, you can make your phone play a sound, attempt to be located using GPS capabilities, lock remotely, or in the event the phone cannot be recovered, completely erase the phone’s content.
Androids can be remotely rung, locked, or erased in a similar fashion using Android Device Manager. If you are logged into your Google account using your Gmail address and password, you can quickly enable the lock and erase features for Android devices. Note: For both Apple and Android devices the lock and erase features must be enabled before the phone is lost to utilize these functionalities. There are also third party apps that can wipe your phone remotely, such as MobileMe for Apple users and WaveSecure for Androids.
Call for Backup:
The safety and security of the contents of your phone is of utmost concern, so hopefully your company has adequate MDM and/or Mobile App Management (MAM) software in place to protect and, if necessary, delete sensitive information from your mobile phone. The advantages of MDM and MAM are numerous. With features like Geofencing, policy based security settings, and pre-deletion backup, both you and your IT Department can rest easier knowing the sensitive information on your phone has an extra layer of protection.
If your phone is missing, simply get in contact with your IT Department and they can take care of remote access to your phone for you. Thomas Claburn from InformationWeek.com recently wrote a great article on the growth of MDM and MAM. You can check it out here. Remember that breach notification laws vary by state, however many states require notification if certain personally identifiable information (PII) is lost or stolen unless the information is properly secured. Understanding how to secure and encrypt your device can often mitigate the stress of losing it. In our view, replacing a device is painful enough; you don’t want to have to also notify clients that you lost your device and their personal information!
