Summary

Having become real laptop mini-manager, the mobile phones that we carry every day have two characteristics: they cost expensive and they transport a good part of our private or professional life in the form of data.These two characteristics are the two things that a victim of theft thinks when his precious device has just been stolen.And on Android, you have to recognize the remote data protection system is far from perfect or, failing that, be really clear.As it is better to prevent than cure and that part of the editorial staff recently had your smartphone stolen, here is a small guide of different things not to forget to better protect your phone and data in the event of theft.

The scenario is classic.You are about to get on this bus/metro/tram with your helmet on your ears and a vile faquin (to stay polite) stole your phone when the doors were closing.As usual in this case, you cannot do much except that you have lost a device that cost you several hundred euros, that your data is in danger, that your billrisk of gaining weight and especially that the world is now of crazy injustice.Once the anger has dropped, it's time to ask the question: have I protected my phone well?In many of the cases, the answer is no, and it is rarely the fault of the user.Explanation.

Android basic protection: the Android devices manager

Android owners, do you know the Android devices manager in the Google phone settings?Unless you know Android perfectly (or have already been stolen from a phone), there is little chance that the answer is affirmative.The Google settings menu is often well hidden.In the case of the Galaxy S6, for example, it is at the bottom of the Google folder which includes most Google Apps, itself hidden in the Applications Drawer.In the case of the OnePlus One and other Android smartphones, it is simply in the application drawer under the name "G parameters ...".Which makes it little distinctionable passage from conventional parameters.This discreet menu allows you to configure your Google account.Above all, in the case that interests us, it allows you to activate the two main safety options linked to Android, namely the location of the device remotely and the authorization to lock and delete the device at a distance.These are the two options that allow you to find out where your phone is and to reset the phone remotely.Above all, you should know that these two parameters are disabled by default.

The two check options (central image) can be found in the Google Settings Safety Menu.They are unclogged by default.

In fact, and this is a problem for remote protection for Android smartphones currently, Google gives practically no indication about these two parameters.To understand how they really work, so we tested them on the editorial staff Galaxy S6.The first thing to know is that once one of these two parameters activated on a phone, they will then be automatically activated on all the next other Android devices which are linked to the Google account that validated them, provided, of course, that these devices have at one time or another of an internet connection.What must be remembered is that if you want to be able to reset your phone remotely, you must at least check the locking authorization box and remote deletion.

Let's go back for a moment to our smartphone theft story.The first reflex to have when you are stolen from a smartphone is to go to the Android devices manager page.This manager can be viewed online on a web browser, at this address, or in the form of an application.It is on this page that you can interact with your Android phone remotely.In the event that the two safety options of the Google account have been activated, the interface allows you to choose a device, locate it and possibly make it ring, block it or reset it remotely.However, these options are only possible when the phone has an Internet connection, whether in 3G or WiFi.

The remote Android devices management interface makes it possible to ring, lock or remove your device remotely.

Block or reset your device remotely

How do these options react when the user activates them?It's very simple, after clicking on one of the three options, the phone does what is asked without the slightest time.Click on ring sounds the phone "at full volume and for 5 minutes".It is possible to stop it by pressing the start -up button.By activating the remote locking of the phone, an interface allows you to set up a lock screen on the phone concerned.This lock screen then requests a password and can display a message and a phone number to contact.The last option is the most radical, since once validated with the large red confirmation button, the phone performs complete reset.Let us recall once again, these options are only activated if the phone has an Internet connection and the user's Google account has not been deleted from the phone.A simple telephone reset makes all these manipulations obsolete.

The interface allows you to block your smartphone remotely by entering a password.

And this is what appears on the phone.

And in the event that the safety options were not checked?In this case, the web interface of the Android devices manager offers the user to activate the locking and the erasure of data remotely from the phone.If the phone is connected to the Internet, it will automatically check the Google account option on the phone.An option that will then be discreetly activated on the phone, without any notification or message.Once done, the user can then block or erase his phone remotely.In the event that the two blocking and erasure options do not appear, it is that the phone is either out of line, or that the Google account has been erased, or that the phone has already been reset.In any case, part of your data, those related to your Google accounts, are safe.

When the Google parameter options have not been activated, the device manager offers to activate them remotely.

If everything is going well, your data is protected.Should we be satisfied?No.Unlike iPhone, Android smartphones can be reset by anyone without any restriction and then be reused in a few minutes by a new owner.Today in 99 % of cases, resetting an Android smartphone allows you to appropriate it by installing any other Google account, without the phone cares about its former owners.Google has a lot of progress to be made on this point, especially compared to competition.For comparison, a stolen and blocked iPhone is simply unusable without the Apple identifiers since it cannot be reset.Which has also reduced the number of flights to the iPhone draw in the world.

Android lollipop: timid improvements to better protect your smartphone

Android lollipop in version 5.1 changed Android behavior discreetly, but important.As indicated on this page, with unfortunately very vague explanations, it is theoretically possible to be able to reset an Android smartphone in order to install another Google account and be able to use it as a new phone.Google explains that if the stolen smartphone has been reset from the Recovery Mode, it is impossible to install a Google account different from Google account dating before resetting.Google adds "If you are unable to provide this information [from the previously installed Google account] during the configuration process, you will not be able to use the device after restoring its factory configuration.To do this, however, two size constraints must be answered.First, that its device is preinstalled on Android 5.0 (lollipop) or a later version.Then that it is currently installed on Android 5.1 or a later version.Concretely this concerns at least the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.We tested this protection on a Galaxy S6, which also meets these criteria, but we still managed to install a new Google account on the device after a wild reset.Difficult to completely trust this system as it is.

Third -party services and applications: more complete, but limited by Android

To secure your smartphone well, there are only two really valid solutions.The first is to turn to the manufacturer's security services integrated into the smartphone, when it offers them.Those integrated into the latest Samsung devices, for example, are sufficient.They allow you to block the smartphone remotely, but also and above all to link your smartphone to a Samsung account to protect the smartphone from software reset without entering the password of the account account.Protection that unfortunately does not protect from reset via the Recovery Mode.But we still wonder why Google does not include protection similar to the basic version of Android.

Find My Mobile for Samsung devices is only in English.But the services offered are much more complete than on the basic services of Android.

The second solution is to install a third -party smartphone protection and tracing application.We had made a file on the subject three years ago now and if it had to be redone, we would not touch it practically.If you should only be advised, it would be Cerberus Antolle, which is both arch-complete (taken from various and varied photos, screenshot, sending the history of calls and SMS toDistance, remote formatting, audio recording, etc..) and which especially has the merit of offering an option for rooted smartphones so that the application never uninstalls, even in the event of reset.Downloading the application is free and allows you to test it for free for a week.Once the deadline has passed, it is necessary to pay 4.99 euros to use it for life (no monthly or annual subscription).A particularly useful application, but inevitably limited by the procedures for resetting Android.

Cerberus's web interface.The list of remote actions could not be more complete.

The Cerberus application once installed on a smartphone.

Some last tips to finish

Remember that in the event of a phone flight, it is necessary to go and file a complaint in a police station.This complaint, which must then be sent to your operator, will allow you to be reimbursed for any costs of offadow caused by the thief and to be reimbursed for his SIM card.Note that to file this complaint, it is necessary to bring the IMEI number of the phone, which is found on the box of the device (which you naturally never thrown because you are the prudent type) or tappingin the following code in the Dialer of the phone: *#06#.This IMEI number, once transmitted to the operator, will allow it to block the smartphone in France: the device will be unable to read a French SIM card or make calls in France ... but not abroad.It is for this reason that a large majority of smartphones stolen in France are abroad abroad.Last tips, if you have any doubts about your data, change your main passwords.The longest in this sad story is certainly to recover from the loss of your device.

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