Concordia Mobile Device Management
Posted on: Jun 8, 2016
In the past several months several devices with Concordia data on have gone missing due to theft or loss. While we were able to retrieve most of these devices there is still concern that this will happen again and we will be unable to retrieve these devices. This could result in the compromise of Concordia and personal data. To that end IT Services has been directed to implement a mobile device management solution to ensure that Concordia and user owned data remains secure in the event of loss of device or theft.
Commencing tomorrow (09-June-2016) we be enabling mobile device management via Concordia’s Google Apps installation. We will be implementing a single policy to all Concordia employee accounts enabling the mobile device tracking for iOS and Android devices, specifically the “find my device” feature. This feature enables you, the device user, to locate your device via Android Device Manager (https://www.google.ca/android/devicemanager) which can be accessed via your computer or another mobile device.
The Android Device Manager has several features. The main function enables you to locate your mobile device, an extended feature of this is the ability to cause your device to ring very loud regardless of whether the device is set to mute. This can be very helpful in finding a device that is hidden and possibly muted (possibly under a sofa cushion for example.) The second feature of the Android Device Manager is to give you the ability to remote wipe your device in the event that your device is lost and not recoverable (e.g. it is dropped in a parking lot and scooped up by a snow removal crew or your device is stolen at the gym.)
For Concordia-owned devices, IT Services will also have the ability to remotely wipe devices. This will only be done at the users’ request. Concordia does not have the ability to track the location of any mobile device; only the user has that ability. In the near future we will also be requiring device encryption for Concordia-owned mobile devices. We strongly recommend you encrypt your personally-owned mobile devices as well. We will be releasing more information on device encryption in the near future. If you have any immediate questions about device encrytion please contact us.
If you have any further questions please contact IT Services at helpdesk@concordia.ab.ca
