Keeping Your Phone and Data Secure While Traveling

 

Check Your Encryption Settings

Make sure that your phone is encrypted. Most modern phones have encryption automatically in place when you have a passcode, Face ID, Touch ID, or other biometrics set up, but if your phone is more than 5 years old, you should check.

You can check your security settings for iPhones by going to Settings > Passcode (or Touch ID and Passcode, or Face ID and Passcode), scrolling to the very bottom and making sure that "Data protection is enabled" appears at the bottom of the screen. Android devices have similar settings, but the location will vary depending on device.

Use Find My iPhone or Find My Device

Make sure Find My Device (Android), Find My iPhone (Apple), or other location services for your specific phone are enabled. This will allow you to locate and remotely lock/wipe the device if needed.

If your device is stolen, we recommend wiping it immediately and reporting the loss to T&I so we can remove it as an authorized Duo authentication device for you.

Boost Your Passcode Security

If you have a 4-digit passcode, consider changing to a 6-digit or longer passcode to thwart thieves.

Be Aware of Your Location & Wi-Fi Connection

Be wary of using your phone in conspicuous public places, especially where a thief may grab the phone while you are using it. 

Avoid untrusted public Wi-Fi where possible. If in Europe, your phone will be safest on a country-wide cell network (including when roaming with your US carrier.) Hotel Wi-Fi is often ok for general tasks, but be wary of malls and open public networks. Use caution when accessing any sensitive information, like bank accounts or Davidson accounts, and consider using a VPN in these situations.

If your phone is joined to eduroam at Davidson and you'll be near European universities, eduroam will work and is a great high-trust network to use.

Remove any Unnecessary Davidson Files

Delete any Davidson files containing confidential Davidson or student information that you may have downloaded to the phone.

Update Your Phone

Make sure your iPhone or Android device is fully updated to the latest security patches before you depart.

Apple exec ‘outright lied’ during Epic trial

In her ruling banning Apple from charging a commission on purchases made outside the App Store, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers says that an Apple executive “outright lied under oath.”

According to Gonzalez Rogers, Alex Roman, vice president of finance at Apple, gave testimony that was “replete with misdirection and outright lies.” The judge writes that Roman lied when testifying that Apple hadn’t decided on the 27 percent number for its fee on purchases outside the App Store until January 16th, 2024.

“Contemporaneous business documents reveal that on the contrary, the main components of Apple’s plan, including the 27 percent commission, were determined in July 2023,” Gonzalez Rogers says. “Neither Apple, nor its counsel, corrected the, now obvious, lies.”

Gonzalez Rogers says that she is referring the case to a US attorney for possible criminal contempt proceedings against Apple and Roman.

“Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court’s Injunction,” Gonzalez Rogers says at the end of the filing (emphasis hers). “It did so with the express intent to create new anticompetitive barriers which would, by design and in effect, maintain a valued revenue stream; a revenue stream previously found to be anticompetitive. That it thought this Court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation. As always, the cover-up made it worse. For this Court, there is no second bite at the apple.”