Is your slip showing? Ways to protect your mobile devices.

Laptops, mobile phones, iPhones, Blackberrys and USB drives can conveniently store data outside your work environment. But portability has a downside. Devices are easily stolen and their data is valuable with many thieves admitting to stealing devices for the information stored on them. Protect your device from damage It goes without saying that one of the most common threats to mobile devices is physical damage. What happens if you drop your laptop, accidentally sit on it or spill that much-needed coffee over your iPhone? There is no fail-safe way to protect yourself against this risk, the important thing is take precautionary measures to avoid losing data if your device is damaged. A  couple of simple ways you can protect yourself include using a secure, encrypted USB flash memory drive to back up your data, the thought being your back up is on your person and separate from your laptop. Best of all is back up data to an online storage site so your data doesn’t go missing if your laptop is damaged.

Get smart when it comes to which data you carry.

Finders keepers However, your greater risk is that your device will be lost or stolen.  Your data is the most valuable and hard-to-replace thing about your device, make protecting your data the number one priority. Some things to help with physical theft!

• Be smart. Don’t let your mobile device out of your sight. Don’t be showy with your equipment. Carry your gadgets and laptop as inconspicuously as possible.
• Label your property. Labeling reduces the value of the equipment, since it’s extra work for the thief to remove the labels. You can purchase devices that will imprint your logo onto the case of the device. (Check with the manufacturer before branding equipment.)
• Use security products. You can increase the physical security of your device by investing in a cable lock, beaconing software, lock boxes, or BIOS settings. Any of these can greatly improve physical security and deter theft. Even a password required at login helps.
• Complex passwords and encryption solutions make it difficult for your laptop to be “hacked” by criminals if it is stolen.
• Remote data protection so sensitive data can be wiped remotely if your device goes missing.
• Use the hard drive password setting on your laptop. It provides good security, but is also the most unforgiving if a password is lost.   If you do set the hard drive password, store it in a safe place (which is not on the laptop or in the laptop case!).

Get smart when it comes to which data you carry. Look at the data you have stored on your device and ask yourself whether you really need to have this sensitive data stored on the device, or whether you could remove certain aspects of it to be safer. Some questions to help you determine your real needs – whether you have sensitive data, and whether you really need to:

• Do you have old personnel files or employee evaluations that can be deleted?
• Have you collected ABN / TFN /ACN / Bank Account as identifiers?
• Do you have a file with credit card numbers from clients or users? OR even your own?
• Do you collect birthdates along with names for any reason?
• Did you answer “yes” to any of these?   If you did, consider whether you have a legitimate business need for this information, and if you do, whether you really need to store this data on a mobile device:
  • If you do have a legitimate business need for sensitive data on your mobile device, consider some ways you could make this data safer:
    • Could you access it on a server versus storing it on the local hard drive?
    • Could you remove elements of the data that render it harmless if it were to be unintentionally disclosed? (For example, TFN numbers by themselves pose no threat. However, if coupled with names in a file, they can prove to be injurious.)
    • Could you encrypt the data?
• Ensure you’re only carrying the data you think you are. It’s a good idea to look in your most frequently used folders, and your “Temp” folder, and purge any unneeded files, every week or two.

Ensure a secure Internet connection everywhere – including at home Taking all the care in the world with the security of your mobile devices won’t matter if you connect them using low-security Internet connections such as public, unsecured wireless.  Don’t sabotage your efforts to protect your property and sensitive data by making mistakes borne of ignorance or overconfidence.

• Use secure wireless. While using a public wireless networks at airports, bookstores, and coffee shops is convenient, it’s also one of the most dangerous things you can do with your mobile device. You’re just asking for someone to “shoulder surf,” steal your data, or your identity. Use only approved wireless access points. Ensure you only connect to wireless networks that you actively choose.
• Disable file and print sharing. You may not have this enabled, but in case you do, turn it off before going mobile. It allows other users to connect to your computer, something you may find desirable while in a work environment, but certainly not so while on the go.
• Disable your wireless Internet connection when not in use. When you’re not using it, having your wireless Internet on is just an added security risk. Many newer devices literally have an on/off “switch” for the wireless card.

Don’t get caught with your slip showing! Be prepared: better safe than sorry.