If your phone is lost or stolen, your data could be compromised. One of the main ways to put your stored data at risk is to use a weak access code, such as 0000 or 1234. If the person who found or stole your phone can guess your access code, your data will be compromised.
Read on to find out more about how to protect your phone in the event of loss or theft, and how to secure your phone’s data.
After losing your phone or having it stolen, you’re probably going to panic at the thought of your data being compromised. This is a legitimate concern, especially if your phone has a generic access code or none at all. If you don’t have a strong passcode or some kind of access code to secure your phone, you risk losing your data and personal information.
How to protect your data if your phone is lost or stolen
If your phone is lost or stolen, there are several steps you can take to protect your data:
Locate your phone
If your phone is equipped with GPS location functionality, one of the first things you need to do is locate your phone and mark it as lost.
iPhone users can do this by accessing the Locate application on another Apple device. Once you’ve marked your phone as lost by pressing Activate under Mark as lost, you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail and can view a message on the lost phone’s screen telling you how to contact you to return the device. Continue following the instructions on the screen of your Apple device to complete the process of remotely locking your phone.
Android users can find their lost or stolen phone by following a similar process. If you go to the Where’s My Droid application, select your phone from the list of devices. Enter the PIN code from the lock screen of the lost or stolen phone, and you should see a map showing your phone’s last known location. At this point, you can lock your phone with a PIN or password and add a message to your lost phone screen.
Whatever type of phone you own, locating it and marking it as lost will enable you to lock your phone. This prevents anyone who has found or stolen your phone from gaining access to your device and getting hold of your personal information or data.
Backing up and deleting your stored data
Neither iPhone nor Android users can back up their phones remotely once they’ve been lost or stolen. However, if you backed up your phone before it was lost or stolen, there may be ways to delete stored data.
iPhone users can log into their iCloud to make sure their phone’s old backup is there. Once you’ve checked that iCloud has your data, go to the Find application and search for your missing phone under Devices. Select the missing phone, then press Delete this device. By deleting the data on your missing phone, you ensure that the person who found or stole it will not be able to access your stored data.
Android users can restore data on a new Android device from their Google account if the original phone was backed up in the past. Go to the Where’s My Droid app, select the missing phone, go to Settings and tap Device Reset. Remember to do this only if you’ve backed up your phone; otherwise, you’ll wipe everything off your phone with no way of recovering it.
Contacting your mobile operator
After your phone has gone missing, you should connect your mobile operator as soon as possible to protect your data. When you inform your mobile operator of the loss or theft of your phone, you can ask them to deactivate your SIM card so that the person who finds your phone cannot claim to be sending SMS messages or making calls in your name, or receiving calls or SMS messages. Your mobile operator can also transfer your data to a new SIM card, but you’ll probably have to do this in person so that they can verify your identity.
Change the passwords to your most important accounts
If your phone is lost or stolen, you should immediately change your passwords, especially for your most important accounts. Think of the consequences of someone finding or stealing your phone and gaining access to your banking information or e-mail accounts. By changing your passwords immediately, you should be able to preserve your data and your privacy as much as possible.
An easy way to change your passwords is to use a password manager like Keeper®. Keeper Password Manager can automatically generate and store new passwords when you reset your accounts. This not only gives you strong new passwords, but also keeps them in a safe place.
Deleting your phone as an MFA
If you’re using your lost or stolen phone as a multifactor authentication method (MFA), you need to delete it. As the aim of MFA is to strengthen the security of your accounts, it is dangerous for your phone to receive an important SMS or call to verify your identity if it is lost or stolen. By deleting your phone as an MFA, you avoid the risk of someone else accessing your accounts using the MFA codes on your lost or stolen phone.
Proactive measures to protect your phone’s data
If you’re reading this because you want to be prepared in case your phone is lost or stolen, there are a few simple steps you can take proactively to protect your phone’s data.
Securing your phone with a strong access code
One of the most important things you can do to protect your phone is to use a strong passcode. By making your phone more difficult to access, anyone who finds or steals your phone won’t be able to get your private information, or at least it will be more difficult. If you need help on where to start creating a strong access code, follow these tips:
Don’t use a series of sequential numbers like 1234
Do not use personal information (date of birth, wedding anniversary, etc.).
For further help, we recommend using a password generator, which will help you create unique, strong passwords.
Activate biometric identification and update phone settings
Biometric identification means that your device recognizes you on the basis of a physical characteristic, such as your fingerprint, retina or voice. As biometrics relies on unique physical or behavioral information, it’s essential to enable biometric identification on your phone if you can, to ensure that nobody but you can access your phone. When you enable biometric identification, someone who has stolen your phone won’t be able to log in to your phone or any of your applications if you require a face scan.
In addition, you should update your phone’s settings to prevent SMS messages and notifications from appearing on your phone’s screen. The main reason you want to hide SMS and notifications on your lock screen is that anyone stealing your phone could receive an MFA code via SMS without needing your phone’s access code. If someone can read the SMS or notifications on your lock screen, they can use the MFA codes or other personal information to access your accounts.
Back up your phone data regularly
Another thing to do if your phone is lost or stolen is to back up your data stored on the cloud and delete locally stored data from your missing device. If you backed up your phone before it disappeared, you can delete the data stored on your phone without fear of it being lost forever. By regularly backing up your phone, you can store the data on your phone in a safe place and restore it on another phone if you can’t recover your lost or stolen phone.
Keep your phone’s software up to date
Always download and install the latest software updates on your phone. Keeping your phone up to date ensures that it has the latest security patches, bug fixes, new features and more. If your phone has gone missing and was not equipped with the latest security features, the data it contains is at risk of being stolen.
A simple way to keep your phone’s software up to date is to activate automatic updates for iPhone users. This will notify you when the latest update is installed on your phone, without you having to do it manually. Android users can also update their phone’s software automatically in the Software Update section when their phone is connected to Wi-Fi.
Setting a PIN code on your phone’s SIM card
Although you can’t set a PIN code on your phone’s SIM card once it’s been lost or stolen, you can do so proactively in your phone’s settings. If you’ve never used a SIM PIN code before, enter your operator’s default SIM PIN code, which is usually 1111 for most operators. Check your operator’s PIN code before entering it, as you’ll only be allowed three attempts. If you don’t know the PIN, contact your operator directly. If you guess the wrong PIN code, you risk permanently blocking your SIM card. Follow the steps below, depending on your phone type:
For iPhone
- Open Settings
- Search for Mobile Service, then press SIM PIN
- Activate the PIN SIM option
For Android
- Open Settings
- Go to Security, then More security settings
- Under SIM card security, activate SIM card lock
Use a password manager
Before anything happens to your phone, you should use a password manager to protect your important data. A password manager can not only store login credentials, but also protect important files and documents, including your passport, banking information and more. If you were already using a password manager before your phone was lost or stolen, you should feel more protected knowing that whoever finds your phone can’t access your private data.