Imagine this: You are sitting at a nice restaurant and your phone rings. As you finish your convo, the food arrives and you place your phone on the table. You enjoy a good lunch, pay your check and leave. As you sit in your car you realize you forgot your phone on the table. You go back in to find it gone and your server has no idea where it is. What happens now?
If you haven’t taken steps prior to setup your phone for this situation, all you can do is contact your phone company and see if they can remotely wipe the phone. That might not always be the case however and there are steps you can take to protect the data on your phone, which these days is worth more then the phone…
If you have a Blackberry, there are two ways to do it. If you are part of an Enterprise
where the IT department manages your Blackberry device then they can remotely wipe the device for you. If you are not, there is an application you can install on your Blackberry called Blackberry Protect. Go here for more info. The application allows you to find the device based on GPS coordinates, lock the device, back up the phone wirelessly and more. All via remote through Blackberry’s web portal. It’s also free! Once you have the application installed you can login to the web portal and access its functions.
If you have an iPhone, there is a pay service called Mobile Me. Go here for more info. It does all the things Blackberry protect does plus sync your information amongst your Apple Devices for a yearly fee. It works similarly to the other remote services discussed in this blog and even provides a map view of where your phone is.
If you have an Android phone, there is an app you can get
through the marketplace called SeekDroid. Go here for more info. Here’s how it works: for a one time charge it installs the SeekDroid app on your phone. After you create an account you log in at https://www.seekdroid.com and access all the functions the application has to offer. You can locate your device, remotely enable its’ GPS, see its’ location on a map, set an alarm, lock the phone, remotely wipe the phone and it’s SD card and more…
If you have a Windows 7 Phone, the application is already built into the phone. I
t uses Windows Live services, which you have to sign up for, to get the same results the other phones. All you have to do is log into your Windows Live account here at https://devices.live.com. From there you can Manage Your Device with functions like: Map it, Ring it, Lock it and Erase it. The names of the functions are self explanatory. Windows Live also allows you to sync your information amongst your Windows devices much like Mobile Me for Apple but without the yearly charge.
If you have a WebOS device from Palm or HP, you needn’t worry. The function is built into your phone much like the Windows Phone 7 solution. If your device is lost you can go to https://ps.palmws.com/palmcsext/console/pages/LoginPage.iface, log in with the WebOS account you setup when you first got the phone and take care of business. It works much the same as the Windows 7 phone by allowing you to remotely wipe the phone at no charge.
In conclusion, depending on your phone, you need to take steps to prepare it for the worst case scenario like I mentioned above. Do not let your data’s security get lost in the shining luster of your smartphone’s cool media or contact management abilities. Look ahead…
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This is good to know!! I have a blackberry and not too proud to admit that I never thought about the datas value to someone.
Indeed, its’ such a simple thing to protect the data yet many people do not and that’s what the bad guys prey on…