As business people, we rely on our cellphones for information as well as communication.
Losing a phone is serious. It’s likely to contain all your useful information – including your passwords for apps and financial accounts. So if you know it’s not simply mislaid in a jacket pocket or purse, you need to act fast to protect yourself, your business, and data about your clients and friends.
The first task should be to delete your device information and lock it. You can do this with Google’s Find My Device for Android or Apple’s Find My iPhone. These programs can track your phone, so it will tell if you’ve left it at work or dropped it in the garden. If it’s somewhere strange, you’ll probably want to just get the information off the device quick smart.
In Apple, log into your iCloud account; for Adroid users go to Google’s Find My Device page. From there you will want to lock your phone and wipe its contents. We won’t go into how in this article, but if you haven’t set it up already, your internet provider or phone manufacturer should be able to help.
Then tell your mobile service provider. They can take your phone off the network and make it harder for someone to steal information.
Of course if it’s a work phone, there’s likely to be business-related information on it, so tell the boss straight away.
Then there’s the laborious job of changing passwords. Sorry, it has to be done. Start with the ones that could have the most dramatic effect if hacked – Google, Apple, Microsoft, your online banking.
