You Lock Your House, Lock Your SmartPhone Too

Last year I received a strange email from a client whom I hadn’t been in touch with for a couple of years. In it she said that she was stranded in London and could I send her $400?

I immediately called the house and spoke with her husband. When I told him of this unusual email from his wife, he groaned and said that she had lost her SmartPhone. Clearly, people with less than honorable intentions had it and were now systematically going through her address book and sending out these specious emails.

My concern was more than this; the bad guys also had my phone number, home address, and who knows what other information my client had put next to my name.

So I ask you this: What are you doing to protect the information in your SmartPhone (iPhone, Blackberry, PDA, Droid, call it what you will)?

HOW TO PASSWORD PROTECT YOUR SMART PHONE

If there is a way to use a password code to protect the phone you should do it, even if it’s inconvenient every time you want to access the information it contains. You lock your front door and car, don’t you? Why wouldn’t you also lock your phone?

Generally, the method is similar from one phone make and model to another, and it’s easy to do;

Instructions

1. 
Click on "Menu" and "Settings and Tools." This icon may also simply be called "Settings."



2. Click on "Security." Your phone may prompt you for your lock code. By default, your lock code is the last four digits of your phone number. Enter these four numbers and press the "OK" button.



3 
Press "Lock " if you have the option to do so after you enter your lock code. If you do not have this option, simply lock your phone in a more secure way by changing the default lock code.

4 
Click "Edit Codes." Enter and confirm a new four-digit lock code. Go to "Lock Phone Now," and your phone is now locked under your new, private code.

If these general instructions don’t apply to your particular make and model, go to the manufacturer’s web site and look up “Lock Phone,” and the instructions should be there.

And remember, from my earlier blog “Are you Inviting Identity Theft? Probably…” use a set of numbers that aren’t common to you. Don’t use your house or street number, your birthday, kid’s birthday, etc. These can all be easily found.

Also, be sure you make a note of the phone service provider and keep it in a separate place than your phone. This way you can immediately notify them if the phone is lost or stolen. That’s important because you may be responsible for any charges until you report it missing. And believe me, the bad guys aren’t using your phone to call their mothers!

One other thing; this suggestion also applies to your iPod Touch, iPad or any other tablet device if you carry an address book in it.

UPDATE: JUNE 14, 2011
Here's an interesting article about the most commonly used pass codes, which means that they can easily be cracked, so avoid them: "Most Common Pass Codes" 

Photos courtesy of iphonefootprint.com and myportableworld.com




Copyright © The B. Hammil Company, 2011