Losing an iPad: Simple Things to Protect Identity and Theft on Your Mobile Devices
Last night I had one of those incredibly horrifying moments that I hope you never experience.
Just as I’m getting ready to go to bed at 11 PM in my hotel room I suddenly realize my iPad was missing. Losing an iPad is upsetting – knowing the damage someone could do if they accessed online accounts using my iPad was terrifying.
Fortunately I knew I had some protection because I password protect my devices and had set up Find My iPad/Phone. Which can’t be said for many of the educators I noticed using mobile devices at ISTE. But had I done enough?
Photo Credit:Miguel AngelviaCompfight
Here’s what I learned! And I’m hoping my horrifying moment encourages you to improve the security on your devices.
Enable Find My iPad
Fortunately I had Find My iPad/iPhone enabled on all my devices. It is one of the first things you should do when you set up a new iOS device.
You’ll find detailed step by step instructions here.
Enable Password Lock
It’s pointless to use Find My iPad without password lock. Anyone finding your device before you realise it is missing is able to automatically access all your logged in apps and accounts as well as go to Settings > iCloud and turn off Find My iPad.
My device had been lost for 8 hours before I realised it was missing. They could have done considerable damage if they had been dishonest and able to use the device.
Fortunately I had password lock set up on my iPad.
Entering a password whenever you use your device may seem inconvenient, but you’ll appreciate having taken the precaution if you ever lose your device.
Here’s how to set up passcodes:
- Go to Settings > General > Password Lock.
- Turn Passcodes On.
- Create a four digit PIN and confirm it.
You can read more about passcodes here.
Enable Restrictions
Restrictions prevent changes being made to accounts or locations. It works similar to password locking your device except you need to use the correct password to make a change to accounst or locations.
If you don’t take this step, any one that finds your device before the auto-lock engages can simply turn off Find My iPad/iPhone just as fast as you activated it. When Don’t Allow Changes is enabled for locations, the Find My iPad section of Settings > iCloud is greyed out and it can’t be disabled unless you change restrictions for locations to Allow Changes using your passcode.
The idea is you use a different password from your password lock and it adds another barrier to making the change and it might not be something that someone who finds the device will know to look for.
I hadn’t set up restrictions so if someone had been able to work out my password they would have been able to disable Find My iPad.
Here’s how you set up restrictions:
1. Go to Settings > General > Restrictions.
2. Enable Restrictions.
3. Create a four digit PIN and confirm it.
4. Tap on Location Services (under privacy).
5. Select Don’t Allow Changes.
6. Tap on Accounts.
7. Select Don’t Allow Changes.
Using Find My Phone
Once you’ve enabled Find My iPhone you can log into iCloud on your computer and use it to locate or erase a lost device.
This is as simple as:
1. Log into iCloudon your computer.
2. Click on Find My iPhone.
3. Click on Devices, if you have more than one device, and then click on the name of the device you are trying to locate.
4. Now you have the option to Play a sound, enable Lost Mode or Erase the device.
You can read more about each option here.
The downside of Find My iPhone is your device must be connected to the Internet for it to work. So in my situation where I’m travelling with an iPad that uses WiFi connections iCloud won’t connect to device until the person who finds it manages to connect to the Internet. However, I still enabled lost mode so if someone did manage to work out my password, and connect to the Internet, it would immediately contact me.
Setting up Find My Phone on Android Devices
I also have an android tablet I’m travelling with. Setting up Find my Tablet/Phone isn’t as obvious as on iOS devices.
The best option is to first check if your android includes Find My Phone. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and all Samsung devices have Find my Mobile (Settings > Security > Find My Mobile).
There are also a range of apps you can download for androids that work similar to Find My Phone.
What do you think?
This story did have a happy ending! I was fairly confident that is fell out of my bag in the hotel lobby. I went down to the hotel lobby to check and when they couldn’t find it I left my contact details.
The good news is someone had handed it into the hotel reception and the hotel manager had locked it in his office overnight. So they contacted me once he arrived to let me know they had found it.
I’m thinking:
- I should also add a label on the back of my devices with my email address.
- What type of security I need to set up on my laptop.
Thoughts? What other advice do you have? Let us know in the comments below and we will be sure to add it to the post!
Edublogs Support Manager @suewaters on Twitter
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