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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Security Tips for Smart Phones


In today’s day and age, we can’t be too careful when it comes to securing personal data on our cell phones. MCC laptops are encrypted and the same can be done to your smart phone. All Android devices version 2.3 and newer along with iPhone 3GS and newer have the ability to be encrypted. That means that if your phone is lost or stolen, the data on it cannot be accessed without the proper password.

Setting up encryption on an Android device is easy, but can take about an hour to fully encrypt everything. All devices are a little different, but the option to encrypt is usually found under Settings – Security or some variation of those menu options. The device will require a password setup if it does not already have one to unlock the phone. Then the device can then be encrypted. The iPhone settings are found in Settings > General > Passcode. With iOS devices just having a passcode turned on on your phone encrypts your information.

When someone steals a cell phone, one of the first things the criminal does is turn it off. Why? So lost phone/tracking software no longer tracks the location of the phone. Even when they are locked, most phones can be turned off. There are apps available for Android to prevent the phone from being turned off while it is locked. A free app for Android that does this is Smart Lockscreen Protector. Currently, Apple does not have an app available in the app store that will perform this. There are some options for “jailbroken” iPhones.

This cyber-security tip is brought to you by the ETS: Cyber Security Awareness Program.

Jeffrey Willard
Communications and Network Services
03/11/2014