What to do is my phone is stolen

[adone56]

This is a concern that periodically crosses my mind and I have not yet found a satisfactory answer.

If a thief steals my phone or simply if I lose it, is there a way to disconnect the phone from my live account so that the thief cannot do a mess like erase my emails, contacts, notes, documents, pictures and so on?

I don't store on the cloud any sensitive information like passwords, credit card info etc, nevertheless it would be frightening to know that a stranger can have access to my private cloud and can do anything he wants.

I understand that changing live.com password doesn't work because the phone remains connected to live cloud even if I change password.

So what does people do? Is there a way to remotely wipe off the info on the phone and prevent the thief to connect to live.com

If I receive a negative answer this speaks poorly of Windows phone OS, this would be an inexcusable security breach

 

[Likwidz]

Find a lost phone | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

You can Ring, Lock, and Erase your phone via windowsphone.com. The second must is to always call your provider to block the sim and/or imei

 

[xandros9]

On top of that, using a passcode is a great idea and counters all those nightmarish stuff you mentioned.

 

[adone56]

What happens if one has two phones synced through the same live.con account?

 

[Likwidz]

You can see all your phones linked to your account under the Find My Phone section of windowsphone.com

 

[adone56]

Hmm, nope, I only see one of them. And what happens if the thief immediately extracts the SIM card?

 

[Altin Selimi]

If your phone gets lost or stolen, hope that the thief will not guess the password so they will not be able to mess your personal stuff. Other than that, the thief can always just flash the OS and use it as a brand new phone. Apple have utilized a very good phone security with the iCloud, making it impossible to let the thief use your phone in any way. WP OS doesnt really have a good security.

 

[ajayden]

If your phone gets lost or stolen, hope that the thief will not guess the password so they will not be able to mess your personal stuff. Other than that, the thief can always just flash the OS and use it as a brand new phone. Apple have utilized a very good phone security with the iCloud, making it impossible to let the thief use your phone in any way. WP OS doesnt really have a good security.

Sorry to ask. How does icloud help protect the phone if it is stolen?

 

[xandros9]

If your phone gets lost or stolen, hope that the thief will not guess the password so they will not be able to mess your personal stuff. Other than that, the thief can always just flash the OS and use it as a brand new phone. Apple have utilized a very good phone security with the iCloud, making it impossible to let the thief use your phone in any way. WP OS doesnt really have a good security.

On the contrary, Windows Phone has great security.
It's the anti-theft functionality that isn't matching Apple's, but actual data security isn't bad.

Hmm, nope, I only see one of them. And what happens if the thief immediately extracts the SIM card?

If the thief turns off the phone, you aren't going to be able to do anything with it - all bets are off. Same with any other phone.
Now, if the SIM is removed while the phone is in use, I don't know what happens.
If there's a passcode enabled, your data is safe. (unless you have a government after you, but then again you'd have other problems too)

Sorry to ask. How does icloud help protect the phone if it is stolen?

Apple has an activation lock feature, where a device is tied to a specific Apple ID. If you do not provide the Apple ID password, the device can't be used no matter what. (even if reset, etc.)
It's a great anti-theft measure, but the downside being if someone needs it unlocked (e.g. death of user in family) it might be essentially bricked.
And if the phone's used for parts, nothing can stop that.

 

[PepperdotNet]

Sorry to ask. How does icloud help protect the phone if it is stolen?

When you enroll an iPhone in iCloud, 'find my iPhone' etc., the device id is stored at Apple. Any future OS restore thru iTunes (equivalent to Lumia Software Recovery Tool) requires the entry of valid credentials. The phone cannot be accessed at all. Even with a DFU wipe and reload, valid iCloud id and password are required.

(sorry, didn't see above reply from xandros which said basically the same thing)

 

[adone56]

If the thief removes the SIM card he can connect via WIFI and see all my data.

So, your suggestion is setting a password. Ok, I'll do it

 

[xandros9]

If the thief removes the SIM card he can connect via WIFI and see all my data.

So, your suggestion is setting a password. Ok, I'll do it

No he cannot.
Removing a SIM card probably doesn't do much besides disconnecting from the cellular network.
You need the passcode in order to access Wi-Fi settings, etc.
Even if your phone connects to Wi-Fi automatically, a thief cannot see all your data.