What to Do If Your Computer, Tablet, or Smartphone is Stolen or Lost

Whenever a computer or mobile device is stolen or lost, there are two areas of concern:

• The loss of a physical asset
• The potential exposure of sensitive information that either may be stored on the device, or may be accessible by default by anyone who has physical access to the device

Today's mobility and use of personal devices to connect to University e-mail and systems has resulted in business data finding itself on personally-owned devices as well. Even though a vast majority of organizations discourage having business data on personally-owned devices, we cannot assume that we need to focus only on University-owned devices when devising computer loss/theft strategies.   

Stolen or lost University-owned devices

To address cases where the stolen or lost device is University-owned, we have developed a procedure designed to help reduce the risk of a potentially costly University data breach and, hopefully, to recover the device. This procedure draws together the efforts of the following University areas working closely together with you:

• The UHCL Police Department
• The Information Security Office
• The Office of Information Technology
• University Property Management

If you have a University-owned computer that is stolen or lost, please visit the Reporting a Stolen or Lost University-Owned Computer or Mobile Device page and follow the steps outlined.

Stolen or lost personally-owned devices

If the stolen or lost device is personally-owned, please contact the Information Security Office through the OIT Support Center at extension 2828 or supportcenter@uhcl.edu. We will work with you to determine what information might be at risk on the device and the steps that you need to take to protect yourself and the University against the risk of sensitive information being exposed. While the chances of physical device recovery are slim, we can discuss things you can do to improve your chances there as well.