What to do if your computer or phone is lost or stolen

Any loss or theft of devices used to process University data must be reported as soon as possible. This includes laptops, desktops, tablets and mobile phones, even if they were only used to check email.

Immediate actions to take following the loss / theft of PC, Mac, phone or tablet

1. For devices purchased or managed by your department or college, report the missing device to your local IT team.

   For centrally-managed PCs and Macs report the missing device to our service desk by telephone on 01865 6 12345.

   We will usually ask you for:
   - date and time you noticed the device was missing
   - computer identification / type / model / age
   - where and when it was last positively seen
   - whether it was shutdown or locked at the time of loss
   - any USB drives or other storage media also missing
   - whether there was any sensitive or personal data saved on the device

2. For phones and tablets: initiate a remote wipe of the device

3. Visit https://myaccount.microsoft.com/, select Sign Out Everywhere.

   This will sign you out of all apps associated with your Microsoft account within 1 hour (email / calendar, OneDrive, OneNote, Forms, Power Automate, Teams, SharePoint)

4. Disable the device from further logins: https://myaccount.microsoft.com/device-list
5. Change your Oxford Single Sign-On password, Remote Access password (if used) and CONNECT password (if you have a CONNECT account). Consider any other work and home passwords that might need to be changed, including for personal email, online banking and other IT / online services

6. If your device could be used to access high-value assets without requiring sign-in then contact your IT team to discuss any immediate actions.

   For example, if your laptop was stolen whilst logged in, then it might be appropriate to remove you from MS Teams or SharePoint temporarily to avoid potential disclosure of sensitive information, or fraudulent use of communications channels

7. Report to Information Security Team on oxcert@infosec.ox.ac.uk. Include the call reference number if you got one in Step 2. You can call InfoSec on 01865 282 222 if you don’t have email access

8. If your device was used to access, store or otherwise process University data then report to Information Compliance Team on data.breach@admin.ox.ac.uk.

   If your device was used to access, store or otherwise process College data then report to the relevant College Data Protection Officer

9. For personal devices: Consider reporting to police and personal insurance claim

10. Purchase a replacement device.

    For university, department or college devices: note that University insurance does not cover the cost of replacing lost/stolen laptops, so this will need to be funded by your department.

    For personal devices: you may benefit from student / staff IT discounts

Follow-up checks and actions

There are a number of checks to carry out after the initial response described above. These review the state of your accounts and identity information in case they were modified. This helps to prevent long-term compromise of your account that could lead to compromises weeks, months or even years later.

1. Check your registered alternative email address
2. Check Outlook INBOX rules and Outlook Web App INBOX rules (both checks are required)
3. Check mailbox delegations, and calendar and mail folder permissions
4. Check OneDrive sharing
5. Check OneNote sharing
6. Check MS Forms including forms sharing
7. Check Power Automate Flows