What they recommended was deleting all my emails, contacts, calendar items, tasks and notes I-N-D-I-V-I-D-U-A-L-L-Y. I had more than 100 emails, around 300 contacts, 20 tasks, 28 notes and I don’t even know the total number of calendar items. I deleted all of them page by page using the Wireless Sync web interface, using the “check-all” option on each page to select the items, and then deleting the items using the delete button; but when I got to the calendar items, I got stuck as there was no list view for me to select a page full of items and delete them. Verizon’s answer was to visit each day in my calendar and click the little trash icon next to each calendar item! The only other alternative was to wait for up to 48 hours after I cancel my Verizon service and then the Wireless Sync account will get deleted automatically. This approach will not work if you were transferring the phone to someone else or returning it back to your workplace. Needless to say I gave up on the idea of deleting the calendar items manually and decided to leave the calendar items in the account, and prayed that the Verizon servers will do a good job of cleaning the information when they terminate my account.
Security does not mean adding firewalls to a server and encrypting user’s personal data. Security is about making the user feel comfortable with the system and feel in control of their information. That is where Verizon’s system fails. Another thing I found by accident was that in case you install the desktop re-director software on another computer and hook it up to another Exchange account. The dumb Wireless Sync software running on the two desktops will sync with the common account on the Verizon’s server and guess what, it will sync the information between the two Exchange accounts. You will end up with the emails and other information from the first Exchange account corrupting the second account and vice versa. The software does not even warn the user, when it is configured on the second desktop that the information on the Verizon server belongs to a different email/Exchange account. I would have expected the software to detect the presence of two accounts and prompt me with a question before proceeding with the sync. It can be seen as a feature; to me it is a hassle and a security risk. Corporate users and IT department should take note of this fact and ensure that the data is wiped clean before handing the phone to another worker.
While every system or solution has its own set of flaws, I like to be in control of my information; I do not like my personal information to be duplicated on systems that I do not have control over. In fact I like to keep the number of copies to an absolute minimum. That is why Verizon’s Wireless Sync scares me and if you are using it, then you should be concerned too.
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| Last 3 articles by the same author |
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Monday, March 26, 2007
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
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