Mark Price

Managing Consultant
Abilita Telecom Consultants
mprice@abilita.com

The smartphone may well be the defining device of our generation. A truly lightweight and portable computer that lets you surf the web, video conference with your friends, email, play songs, store your vital data and more. Blackberries, iPhones, Androids and assorted others give users a vast array of options with which to confront the digital world. With a single handheld device we can manage a number of tasks it took an entire office to accomplish -- welcome to the future.

But with that availability and popularity comes the usual concerns of vulnerability. As often as we use our smartphones, we don't pay attention often enough to the huge amount of information we put into these devices.  There's the obvious information - our contact lists, calendars, notes about important meetings, email and more. But we often forget the peripheral yet vital data that sometimes gets saved: passwords to our bank accounts, apps that record data. Have you ever used a GPS navigation program on your smartphone? Many of them save favorite locations, which would make it fairly easy for a determined thief to find his way to your home.

So what can you do to protect yourself if your smartphone is lost or stolen?

The most important steps you can take can be taken before you ever lose the device. Make sure to password protect your smartphone with a strong combination. Many users rely on something simple like the "four corners" of swipe keypads, or 1-2-3-4, or some simple variation. To make the password any kind of real deterrent, pick something less predictable yet still easy for you to remember: like an important date, or a more irregular geometric shape.

In addition, you can choose to set up your phone so that the device will lock down or even wipe all data on the phone after several failed password attempts. This is a good way to prevent your data from being taken advantage of, but it also carries the risk that you may lose your data for good if you have not backed it up.

So what do you do if you lose your smartphone? First take the obvious step of contacting your carrier.  Secondly check with friends and family; see if it's been left anywhere; call the phone and see if it rings in case you left it by the couch. There is every chance that the only thing that has happened is that you simply misplaced it and it's in the care of either a very good friend or a very determined portion of your sofa. As valuable as these devices are, it must be said we often don't treat them with the respect such an expensive investment truly deserves.  

But what if worse comes to worst and the phone isn't in Uncle Julius's passenger seat and has been really lost or stolen?  

Many smartphones are issued by employers for work related purposes. If this is the case, your company will probably have a standard procedure for how to use and secure data on your phone -- and if they don't, you should suggest that they implement one. These procedures will probably encompass three areas. 

First, there will be general usage procedures, often referred to as device-level security. When you come right down to it, smart phones are really just very compact computers integrated into a cellular phone. This means they are becoming vulnerable to malware just like a standard computer -- your company should have a preferred anti-malware option, as well as safe-use procedures such as periodic check-ins and synching your phone with the company network to receive standard periodic updates.  

Second, there should be a strong focus on network security. Since phones will be synching with and often accessing a company network, network vulnerability can make every phone connected to the network just as vulnerable. Both you and regular network users will have standard network procedures and programs to use to maintain network security and integrity, and you should be familiar with these.  

Finally, your company should make you familiar with the remote locate, remote lock, and remote delete features of your phone, which we will go into a bit more below. If it becomes clear or strongly apparent your phone has been stolen, do not hesitate to use this option.  Consider asking your IT organization if they periodically review smartphone inventories and security measures.  

Smartphones come with a GPS feature standard. Usually you can access a "find my phone" feature through your account, and determine where your phone is. In addition to this option, particularly for iPhones, there is a "remote wipe" option. If you locate your phone and find that it is somewhere you do not recognize, such as a part of town you never go to, this may be an option you wish to consider exercising. Unfortunately, you may lose access to the data and there is little chance you will recover the phone in this case -- but your data will no longer be available to scammers or thieves. 

Next, you need to get to your computer and change your passwords. Change your passwords to everything -- your online banking sites, investing sites, email accounts, Skype and other VOIP accounts, anything you can think of. A favorite trick of identity thieves and scammers is to hijack email and Facebook accounts to send out viruses and spam in order to pull money out of people's hands. It can't be stressed enough, if it has a password and it's something you can access online, change it immediately. Even if you have wiped your phone remotely, there is always the chance that your data had already been compromised.  

The most important thing to do when you have misplaced your phone is to remain calm. If losing it would cause you to panic, then before it's lost it might be a good idea to write down a list of steps to follow in the event you do misplace it or suspect it has been stolen; and carry this list with you. A smartphone is an expensive investment and we do put a lot of sensitive information on them, but that investment can be managed just like any other with a little forethought and planning.  Never underestimate the importance of an effective phone security and back-up plan.