Portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, tablet computing devices, media players and the like typically employ security settings that enable the device to be locked until a user is authenticated to the device.
Sometimes an electronic device may be lost or stolen. If the device's owner has not enabled the device's security settings, or if the security setting is compromised, the owner risks exposing his or her data to others. The owner also may be subject to usage fees, if the person who stole the device hijack's the device's security settings and uses it to make phone calls or perform financial transactions.
This document describes methods for addressing some or all of the issues described above.