Mobile Phone Security
BU Information Security Presents:
Mobile phone security and what to do if you lose your phone
–A few important words brought to you as part of Information Security Awareness Week
Modern smart phones are computers, in every way that counts. And you typically have them set up to automatically access your email and other apps that may contain sensitive information about you, your family, friends or business contacts. All that power—all that access—sits in the palm of your hand in a device that is very easy to lose. There are a few simple things you can do to help protect it:
1. Put a password/code/pattern on it and set it to automatically lock after 5 minutes. It might be a little annoying at first, but it’s important and you’ll get used to it quickly. For a bit of a laugh: youtube.com/watch?v=spaQGWasqHY
2. Get an anti-virus program installed. Yes, anti-virus for your smart phone. Remember these are computers, and they are almost completely unprotected. The hackers know this and are putting a lot of attention on it. Here is a good free AV product: mylookout.com
3. If you lose your phone, don’t have it disconnected until you call the IS&T Help Center. If your phone is set up to pull your email from BU Exchange, you can request that we wipe the phone in the event that the phone is lost. This way no one can get to any private information on that phone. But we can’t do this if you have the service disconnected before talking to us.
For more information visit: bu.edu/infosec/howtos/smartphone-security-measures/
and bu.edu/infosec/policies/security-hardening-of-ios/
(The above links were sent in clear text and are pointing to a domain you trust, bu.edu. But if your email client made them clickable, you should still get into the habit of copying and pasting them into your browser instead of clicking.)