Make Your iPhone More Secure with an Alphanumeric Password
It's strange when you think about it. We password protect our laptop and obsess about keeping it secure, but many people barely give a passing thought to securing their phone. I don't want to paint everyone with a broad brush, but I have certainly met plenty of folks who don't even enable the passcode lock on their iPhone. iPhones are chock full of critical personal and business information -- you should secure it with the same vigor as your laptop.
Did you know that you can enable a strong alphanumeric password on your iPhone? You can, and you should.
First, a reminder: If you don't have any security on your iPhone, you can enable the 4-digit passcode lock by going to Settings, tapping General, and enabling the Passcode Lock control.
That's certainly better than nothing, but you can do a lot better. As jkontherun explains, you can dramatically enhance your phone's security in minutes. Download Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility. This program is really designed for IT managers, but anyone can use it to push a security profile to your phone.
To use it, connect your iPhone to your PC and then run the utility. In the Passcode tab, check Require passcode on device and Require alphanumeric value. Then install the profile, and you can set a strong password for your phone.
