How do You Secure Your Phone / Devices?
 

Mainly thinking about mobile devices here.

I don't know about you but I use my phone for all sorts. And if found it would contain a lot of sensitive data.

Instant Email access (password reset and find logins)
Websites still logged in (facebook etc)
Important documents (these could also be contained within attachments in sent / recieved folder)
Contacts. I have a lot of contacts that would be quite valuable to some people.
Photos and Videos

I use an iphone but this applies to all devices.

I had that sick to the stomach feeling recently when I went to sit down with a coffee with someone and my first instinct is to reach for my phone but I couldn't find it. Panic set in and it wasn't until 10 minutes later I realised it was in my jacket pocket which was safely secured in a locker.

Of course it could be your laptop as well. If someone broke into your house could they access all your sensitive data?

I know how important it is but I don't even do the basics.

My home laptop isn't password protected and I use to have a 4 digit PIN on my phone but abandoned it. How secure is this anyway?

Thoughts?

I always panic when I cant find my phone and it makes me very angry for some reason. It does usually turn up at some friends place but before I find it I get really pissed off.

I only use:

* Encrypted SD-card.
* And also using https://seekdroid.com/v2/
So I can locate it and wipe the phone remotely.

relax, nobody is interested in your data, its just the hardware they are interested in.

most thieves would

format your phone/laptop once they get a hold of it.

or sell it asap.

just make sure to password protect it , so in the worst case they have to format your hardware to get access.

I hate locking and unlocking my phone, I pick it up so often for lite reading.

I bury sensitive password documents with odd folder and file names, like mouse driver etc...

Agree with above 99% of the time it will be formatted and forgotten.

I had my phone stolen about a year ago while getting lunch. I had my phone and keys on the table, turned for a minute and *POOF* gone.

I was able to track the phone to an apartment complex but the police wouldn't do a thing about it, unless I knew the person who took it. WTF? :helpme :error

Eventually just wiped the phone, nothing else could be done. Even insurance companies won't protect against them now, you have to use some 3rd party company.


SUCH a huge concern for me considering my role in an organization and what is on my phone.

So you have to options, if you can't risk it being stolen, leave it at home. or second, be MORE secure. I changed my password to be a letter/number instead of the 4 digit pin and subscribe to both the Apple "wheres my iPhone" dealio and the plan from Best Buy. Yes, Best Buy has a plan where for $9/mo. you can safe guard your phone, remote wipe (just like with the native apps), however does allow for better tracking AND you can activate the camera remotely.

Ive learned over the years to just keep it in my pocket and always check to make sure it's around.

I have mine set so it only requires the password after 5 minutes. Would be great if you can create conditions, like if you are connected to your home WiFi, etc., but it is what it is.

The ONLY feature I liked about android phones is you can do this, but I think the phone had to be rooted, I don't know, but not worth switching from the iPhone over that.

I have encryption enabled, a non guessable password and auto lock after 30 seconds.
So if someone stole it they would generally not be able to get to my stuff.

And if it gets stolen I will remote wipe it asap.

Same with my laptop.

what if your phone/laptop end up in third world country where there is no internet enabled for phone by default and there are no open wifi's to get connected for your laptop.
how do you wipe it ?

is there something like

if i enter wrong passwords like 5-10 times then format/purge data ?

I secure it by following way: by not using smartphone and storing any data to it :)

I use AVG on my android. It has remote location finder, remote wipe, remote lock, etc. First thing most thieves do is swap the SIM card. AVG will auto lockdown the phone if this is detected.

I love the idea of remote wipe and find my iphone but I think time is so important with these things. For me, I tried to locate the phone but only had a samsung smart camera with me I got a not supported message.
I would have no idea how to do a remote wipe if I didn't have access to an apple product :(

I don't think I've ever and will never visit a third world country that has no internet. I need to be online 24/7, so I wouldn't even want to visit a country with no internet.
When I travel (I travel a lot), the first thing I do when I enter a country is buy a local prepaid sim with data package. So far this has worked pretty much everywhere, including third world countries.

Of course people could just take out the SIM, but since the phone is fully encrypted and they don't have the password I am not really worried that anyone could access my data anyway.
Also most real important data is not on the phone but in the cloud (gmail, lastpass, etc.) and they all have options to disable access from the device, so even if they'd somehow would get into my phone, by that time I would already have revoked access for the device for all important stuff.

I do also have the option enabled that it automatically wipes the phone after 10 wrong password tries.