Yes, you have the security in your BlackBerry when you purchase your beloved device. In fact, most of us don’t go through this section or if we do, we only do the password. This is the first tips article about using your BlackBerry device’s security to secure your device. With all the news about security and BlackBerry, let’s start with the tools you are given in the beginning.
You have your device, and with this tutorial we are going to go to Options. From Options we will scroll to the Security Options. The first option is Advanced Security Options. The only real tool I honestly use from the Advanced Options is the Memory Cleaning. Always make sure it’s enabled and if you enable, when you click the BlackBerry menu button, you will see clean now. This helps your BlackBerry to run more smoothly.
Back to the Security Options, we have encryption. By default this option is off. If you would like you can use encryption. I would recommend this option to those who are sending extremely sensitive email. Business men and execs, small business owners. Next is the Firewall Option. By default this is turned off. But you can enable your firewall. You can have incoming messages blocked that are outside your contacts and specific addresses. This can include your texts, PINs and email. I use my Firewall except for my email because I have several emails that are outside of my contact book.
There’s also the Password. In the newer OS you will actually find Password in the Options and not in Security Options. In the older OS you will find it in Security Options/General Options. By default this option is off. I always advise those who are bad with passwords to be careful what they pick. Ten tries and you forget, your phone will wipe clean as a security measure to prevent someone else trying to access your personal information on your phone. Enable your password, be sure it’s a password that’s hard but something you can remember. In the newer OS you can choose how many attempts you have till it wipes, from 3 to 10 attempts. You can set your Security Timeout from 1 min to 1 Hour. You can also have it prompt on application install too. Password protection is a good idea to keep your phone safe for anytime you walk away from it. Don’t give someone the chance to go through your phone, make calls off your phone, or to install spyware on your phone.
The last option is the Security Wipe. In the 4.5 and 4.7 OS, you will go into Security Options, General Options, click the BlackBerry menu button and scroll down to wipe device. You will be prompted to spell the word blackberry. ALWAYS be sure to use this option when 1. Your BlackBerry is having issues and acting up, and nothing else seems to work. 2. That you are giving or selling your BlackBerry device to someone else. You wouldn’t want to leave any of yours or someone else’s information going to the wrong hands. In the newer OS you will find Security Wipe as the last option in Security Options.
Has this been helpful at all? Let me know, I’ll have another section for you soon, going through application permissions on your BlackBerry. Leave your comments and let me know what you think.
