There's a specific cold feeling in the second you realise your phone isn't in your pocket. It isn't really about the phone. It's about what's on it, and what's already signed in.
Police in England and Wales recorded 129,068 theft from the person offences in the year to December 2025. A large share are phones, taken from a hand or a pocket in seconds.
Whether that moment turns into a bad afternoon or a genuinely bad month is decided by settings you either switched on beforehand or didn't. Most people secure their accounts and leave the device itself wide open, which is backwards: your phone is the thing that leaves the house, gets left in taxis, and is already logged into your email, your bank, and the authenticator app holding your second factor.
This course closes that gap in under an hour, and it's mostly one-time settings you never touch again.
What you get
The Lock Ladder. Screen locks are not equal, and the ladder shows you exactly where yours sits. An alphanumeric passphrase at the top, a 6-digit PIN as the realistic default, a 4-digit PIN as barely adequate at 10,000 combinations, and swipe patterns at the bottom where they belong. Biometrics unlock. The code underneath is what actually secures.
The Decision Matrix. Eight settings, each with the risk if you ignore it, the simplest fix, and a priority. Four are marked CORE, and those four are the ones that turn a theft into a non-event. Run the list once per device and stop.
Seven Clarity Scripts. Settings menus differ between devices, but the question you're answering never does. The scripts are those questions, including the one nobody wants to need: a calm, ordered response for the moment a device actually goes missing. Screenshot it now so it works from somebody else's phone.
The 50-minute Action Plan. Timed blocks, phone first because it carries the most risk, then laptop, then anything else. Strong lock and 30-second auto-lock, find-and-wipe enabled and tested, disk encryption switched on with the recovery key saved, automatic updates on everywhere.
Six self-tests. Each with a clear pass condition, including test five, the one people skip: locating your own device on a map from another browser before you ever have to do it for real.
The four ideas behind it
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Screen lock. The front door. Stops someone tapping straight through your logged-in apps.
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Encryption. Stops someone pulling the storage out and reading it on another machine. On by default on modern phones once you set a passcode, but usually off on laptops until you turn it on.
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Auto-updates. Every update closes a flaw attackers already know about. The highest-value habit you can set once and forget.
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Find and wipe. Locate it, lock it, or erase it from any browser. This is the setting that turns a catastrophe into an inconvenience.
This is for you if
- Your auto-lock is still set to five minutes, which is ample time for someone to pick up an open phone
- You don't know whether your laptop is encrypted
- You've never tested that Find My actually works
- Your 2FA codes are readable on your lock screen without unlocking anything
- You have an old tablet in a drawer that's still signed into everything
- You're about to sell or recycle a device
By the last page
Every device you own is locked, encrypted, auto-updating, and findable or wipeable if it disappears. A lost device becomes a lost piece of glass.
Course details
- Format: downloadable PDF, 14 pages
- Time to complete: 45 to 60 minutes
- Series: Course 03 of 20, GhostNet Cyber Fundamentals
- Track: Track A, Privacy Foundations (Courses 01 to 05)
- Prerequisites: none, though it follows naturally from Courses 01 and 02
- Works on: any device, any operating system
- Level: complete beginner, no technical background needed
- Best done with your phone and laptop in front of you, since it's almost entirely settings changes
Buy with confidence
Every course comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. If it isn't useful, email us within 30 days and we'll refund you in full. You don't need to give a reason.
Where to go next
Course 04, Browse Clean. Leave No Trace., cleans up what your now-sealed devices leak while you use them. If it's your Wi-Fi that worries you, jump to Course 11, Home Network and WiFi Security, instead. Or take Privacy Foundations, the five-course bundle covering Courses 01 to 05, for £50 instead of £150.
