Many of us woke up to new digital toys underneath the tree this Christmas, and with the new iPads flying off the shelves, there’s a good chance a lot of us got one.
But, as with all computers that store or access your personal information, they come with some risks. If you take a few simple precautions, though, you can be sure you enter 2014 with a device that won’t bite you if it gets lost or stolen. Most of these tips apply to iPhones and iPods as well.
» Enable a lock screen PIN or passphrase: This should be one of the first things you do, and in fact most new devices will prompt you to enter a new PIN as part of the setup process. The default four-digit PIN is certainly better than nothing, but if you want to up the security a bit more you can enable a longer password (or "passphrase" as we like to call them now) that allows you to use the full array of letters and numbers to make a much stronger lock code. To do this, simply go to Settings –< General -< Passcode Lock, and turn OFF "Simple Passcode". The keyboard will pop up and you will be prompted to enter your new passphrase.
» Enable "Find my iPad" feature: All current iPads (and iPhones) support a feature that will locate your device if it is lost or stolen. You turn this on in Settings –< iCloud. When your device goes missing, you can use another computer or device to go to icloud.com/find, and put your device into "Lost" mode. This will activate the device's lockscreen (if it's not locked already), and allow you to display a phone number where you can be reached if the device is found. You can also trigger a wipe of all the data on the device.
» Configure what is displayed on the lock screen: With iOS7, Apple allowed access to the Control Center and Notifications from the lock screen, without having to enter the unlock code. You might not want people to be able to see this information, and it’s easy to disable. Simply go to Settings –< Notification Center and disable the things you don't want showing up on the lock screen.
» Restrict "in-app" purchases: We’ve all heard the horror stories of a ginormous bill as a result of Junior getting a hold of Mom’s device and accidentally buying a bunch of stuff. Luckily, you can enable parental controls that restricts in-app purchases and also restricts the type of media content that can be downloaded. Just go to Settings –< General -< Restrictions -< Enable Restrictions. From there, you can restrict purchases on an application-specific basis, and also set the rating of movies and TV shows that can be viewed on the device.
What about your old iPad? Once you’re ready to send it along to its new owner, you can easily erase all the stored information and content that is on it. Just go to Settings –< General -< Reset -< Erase All Content and Settings. This will put the device in the Getting Started mode, which will guide the new owner through the setup process, and ensure that they cannot access your data.
With these few simple steps, you can reduce the chances that if your brand new iPad is lost or stolen, you can get it back quickly, or at least minimize the personal information the device will divulge to whoever ends up with it.
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Hawaiian Telcom Information Security Director Beau Monday is a local cybersecurity expert. Reach him at Beau.Monday@hawaiiantel.com.
