Mobile devices are now an essential part of our lives and often allow us to work while out and about.
However, that very mobility means that they typically need even more protection than the computer systems you may have back at the office. They are easy to lose or damage, and they are very easily stolen. And mobile devices may have some very significant information stored on them…
How to protect your mobile devices
- Make sure password protection is turned on. Many devices can now use fingerprint or face recognition as a password, but if you are using a PIN or password, make sure they are hard to guess. And clean your screen regularly; fingermarks can reveal more than you’d think.
- Most mobile devices include web-based tools to help you if they are lost or stolen. It’s worth understanding how these would work before you need them. You should be able to:
- Track the device, so you can find out where it is.
- Lock it, so no one else can use it.
- Erase the data on the device.
- Download a backup of the data stored on the device.
- Keep the devices up to date. Those updates fix problems and patch security holes, so are essential to keep the devices protected. Set them to automatically update, if you can.
- All the apps on every device should also be kept up to date, and for the same reason. Update them as soon as possible, if they don’t automatically update.
- Be very careful about using public wi-fi hotspots, although convenient, they aren’t always what they seem. Someone else could get hold of your login details, or see what you are doing. It’s better to use your mobile network and you can tether your laptop to use that, too.
Our Click and Protect team can help you and your organisation with key advice, so contact us or call the team on 0113 7336250.
Read the previous post in the Foundations series: Passwords
