Remote cell phone auto destruct
Technology to secure personal information stored on a wireless device after the device is lost or stolen by encrypting or destroying the information is provided. A method for securing a mobile device having an information store includes the steps of providing a mobile device application on a mobile device; and signaling the mobile application instructing the mobile application to render any user information stored on the mobile device useless.
1 . A method for securing a mobile device having an information store, comprising:
providing a mobile device application on a mobile device; and
signaling the mobile application instructing the mobile application to render any user information stored on the mobile device useless.
2 . The method of claim I wherein the step of signaling is performed by an enterprise service provider.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the user information is rendered useless on the mobile device without providing any indication to a user interface on the device that the rendering is to occur.
4 . The method of claim 1 further including the step of storing a copy of the personal information.
5 . The method of claim 1 further including the step of restoring a copy of the personal information upon receipt of a restore command from the user.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of signaling includes sending the signal from another mobile device.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of instructing includes instructing the device to encrypt the personal information.
8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the step of instructing includes instructing the device to decrypt the personal information.
9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of instructing includes instructing the device to delete the personal information.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device is a phone.
11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device includes one or more sets of personal information for the user.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the instructing step includes instructing the application to render a subset of the personal information useless.
13 . A method for securing personal information on a mobile device, comprising:
receiving an signal from a user to render personal information stored on the mobile device useless; and
upon receipt of said signal, interacting with said user information to render at least a portion of the personal information inaccessible on the mobile device.
14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the step of receiving includes receiving the signal from enterprise service provider.
15 . The method of claim 13 wherein the signal is provided by the enterprise service provided when the user requests that the enterprise service provider send the signal
16 . The method of claim 13 wherein the step of receiving includes receiving the signal from another mobile device.
17 . The method of claim 13 wherein the step of interacting includes scrambling the personal information.
18 . The method of claim 13 wherein the step of interacting includes deleting the personal information.
19 . The method of claim 13 wherein the mobile device is a phone.
20 . The method of claim 13 wherein the mobile device includes one or more sets of personal information for the user.
21 . The method of claim 20 wherein the interacting step includes acting on only a subset of the user information.
22 . The method of claim 13 wherein the step of interacting includes acting on all of the personal information
23 . The method of claim 13 wherein the method further includes providing a mobile application to perform said receiving and interacting steps.
24 . A method for providing an information service implemented on one or more processing devices coupled to a communication network, comprising:
storing personal information for a plurality of users;
providing a mobile device application to one or more users, the application including an information purge function enabled by a signal from the information service;
upon installation of the mobile device application, receiving a set of configuration data for the mobile application from at least one user; and
upon receiving an instruction from the at least one user to enable the information purge function, outputting a purge signal to the mobile application.
25 . The method of claim 24 further including the step of providing a copy of the personal information upon receipt of a restore command from the user.
26 . The method of claim 24 wherein the step of receiving includes receiving an instruction from another mobile device.
27 . The method of claim 24 wherein the step of outputting a signal includes outputting a signal to the application to encrypt the personal information.
28 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of outputting a signal includes outputting a signal to the application to decrypt the personal information.
29 . The method of claim 1 wherein the step of outputting a signal includes outputting a signal to the application to delete the personal information.