Security Lessons Learnt after Losing Phone

Thanks to technology mobile phones have become a part of our daily life.  We are so much addicted to phones, especially smartphones that have become our “small brains. A lot of important information finds its way in the phone, be it financial plans, weight loss calendar, appointments and so many others in the name of applications. Not to forget the many pictures, selfies, and videos stored in the phone.

In one unfortunate incident at the start of the year I lost my precious phone. At first I panicked at the thought of a not well meaning person getting access to my phone.  Given that my ID was part of the lost purse in which the phone was in among other items (sob sob), what came across my mind was a case of identity theft. Not forgetting that i had some app connecting to a bank account. Gladly I had activated the use of pattern for security. Unfortunately it was the simplest pattern that anyone can possibly guess (damn it).

My first attempt at recovering my phone was to call my number hoping a good Samaritan had picked the phone. The phone rang several times, no one picked, I kept trying from a borrowed phone (luckily I found someone I knew). After several attempts, must have been about 10 times the phone was off. Oh the pain of loosing a phone that carries so much about a person..

Later on when I got home and thanx to mobile money I got fare home since my money was also in the lost purse (more sob sob), I decided to track my phone online. Shock on me, although my phone was connected to my PC and gmail account, My Location and Find My Device were not activated. So that was not going to be of much help. Another available option was to locate the phone using Find My Device app, oh crap that was not installed. Apparently I could install it remotely and the app would be activated by sending a message to the phone sim card. Unfortunately I had requested the service provider to lock my number. My main reason for searching for the phone online was to remotely erase my information, since there was no hope in finding it.

The only other remaining option was to locate the phone using the IMEI number but this I realized was going to be much hustle..for if I got the location I would be required to involve the police to help in recovering the phone.

Having lost my phone got me thinking how we have all these security options but still we do not utilize them. Two most important basic things I have learnt the hard way is to ensure I frequently back up my Phone data in a different place like on my PC or even on the cloud. The second thing of course is making use of  security applications that help in remotely locking or even wiping a device.

As I write this am also wondering if am the only one who overlooked such basic security issues or do I have other partners in crime?

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