Felling like a try A-hole

it_consultant

So last Thursday my client decided to terminate someone who had put in there two weeks notice. I reset their password and disconnected them from all the network shares while the folks went in to terminate her. I went into exchange and instead of doing a "remove phone partnership" I hit "remote wipe". I completely understand what remote wipe does, I just had a mental block. This was her personal phone. While she was packing up to leave one of them came to get me and asked if I had done anything to her phone. It was asking to be connected to iTunes, in French. I had not really meant to blow it away completely but I had to fess up. She was very shaken and I told her I would take care of it. Luckily she syncs her iPhone to her work computer and I was able to recover it from backup within a couple of minutes. I told the terminated employee to always sync her personal phone to her home computer, just in case.

pizzaboy

Mistakes happen, just need to learn from them move on and keep your head up. It will happen at least once to each us I'm sure.

powerfool

Yeah, that really would make me feel bad as well. I think that is something that the sync policies need to take into consideration... only wiping data directly related to the relationship. I understand that companies will want a full control situation when they furnish devices, but there should be another option when you use a personal device... have that clearly defined when the relationship is established.

Everyone

That is the exact reason I pushed for a policy update on mobile device usage at my last job. They let anyone connect their personal phones via ActiveSync. I told them that we needed a policy stating that anyone choosing to connect their personal device consented to having it controlled by us, and that we could wipe it at anytime. It was a hospital, so there were HIPAA/PHI concerns.

I had started working on implementing McAfee's Enterprise Mobility Management software, which would have allowed them to selectively wipe data. Could have wiped only corporate data when someone leaves, instead of the entire device.

Where I work now, the policy is that only corporate owned devices are allowed to connect, which I much prefer.

powerfool

From a enterprise management standpoint, corporate furnished devices are easier... from a user standpoint, I would much rather have my one device and receive a monthly stipend or reimbursement if I am "required" to have a device.

blargoe

Our mobile policy states that you can connect your personal device via ActiveSync, but you must sign a waiver consenting to being subject to our corporate device policies, including password enforcement, automatic wipe after 10 failed passwords, and remote wipe when employment is terminated or if the device is lost or stolen.

Devilsbane

We are running into this now with everyone having their own smart phones and wanting to access e-mail. We don't use exchange (yet) though.

it_consultant

This was a broker who was going over to a competitor, so wiping her phone was necessary. They just need to have a policy in place or decide to provide a company phone instead. They didn't necessarily understand that it wiped the ENTIRE phone.