What Happens When Your Device Is Stolen?

I can honestly say I have never lost any device, but that does not mean it could never happen to me.  In fact, I had a scare a few weeks ago when I could not locate my phone for several hours.  (My white S3 was sitting on top of paper!)  The fact that I almost lost my phone made me think seriously about the security of my devices in case one did end up in the wrong hands.

The exact security features you need depend on the sensitivity of the information the device contains.  For basic personal use, some of these suggestions may be overkill.  However, for business use--especially if you access confidential business data--you may need to go with all-out protection.  Consider what information your device has and choose your security level accordingly.

Here are some ideas to keep your mobile devices secure:

1) Remote Wipe - This is a basic feature that should be a part of each device's security.  If you access anything that requires a password on a device, you should enable remote wipe so that you can clean the device if it is stolen.  While this may not deter professional criminals from accessing your data, it will protect your information from casual snoopers.

Remote wipe is available in both Android and iOS.  You can get the same features on a laptop by using Lojack (for a cost) or Prey (free).  More on these in the next point.

2) Tracking - Let's start by facing this fact:  it is unlikely that you will get your stolen device back.  Once a thief realizes it is being tracked, it is much more likely to end up destroyed or in a landfill than returned.  However, that does not mean you should not plan to try.

Even if you do not have tracking software, some of your accounts--like Gmail, Dropbox, and Evernote--may show you the IP addresses of users who logged in.  If the thief logs in to your account, it will be logged.  While it is unlikely, it may be possible to catch the thief using this information.

However, you may have more success if you install professional tracking software on your device.  Lojack's paid software can track the location of your device any time it is connected.  It can even be configured to do a remote wipe of your hard drive.  For a cheaper alternative, Prey is free for up to three devices and comes with many of the same features.

3) Encryption - The latest versions of iOS and Android now use encryption by default, but most laptops still have unencrypted hard drives.  This means that anyone can remove the hard drive from your laptop and plug it into another computer to see your data.

If you handle sensitive data, you should consider using encryption.  TrueCrypt is a free encryption program that can encrypt your hard drive (or parts of it).  If you have Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 8/8.1 Pro, you can also enable BitLocker to encrypt your hard drive.  Both of these options will help keep your sensitive data safe.

If you really want to protect your data, you can look for an encrypted hard drive.  These drives will encrypt everything as it is stored without the need for any encryption software.