ARCHIVED: With a BlackBerry at IU, what should I do if I lose my device or forget my password?
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If you lose your BlackBerry
At Indiana University, if you lose your BlackBerry device, immediately do the following to render the device unusable and protect your data. This is especially important if you did not have a password set or if the password lock was not engaged when you last had the device, since whoever finds it has access to your mail and data.
With a BES account
If you have an account on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), contact your campus Support Center to report that you have lost your device.
Without a BES account
First, turn off the Desktop Redirector, which stops delivery of new mail to the device. Next, contact the service provider from whom you purchased the device, and request that its service be disabled.
The BlackBerry service provider may need the BlackBerry's PIN in order to disable it. (You should store a copy of your PIN and other information about your BlackBerry; see What can I do to make my BlackBerry more secure?)
If you recover your device, you will need to contact your service provider to get your account reactivated.
If you forget your password
Important: If you forget your BlackBerry password, do not keep trying to log in. If you have a BES account and you have the password option enabled on your BlackBerry, you will be locked out of the device if you type the password incorrectly 10 times.
If you do get locked out, resetting your password requires wiping the device, which is a fairly drastic procedure. This removes all information from the BlackBerry's memory completely, including third party applications.
If you have a BlackBerry with a BES account, and you have forgotten your device password but you have not locked yourself out of the device, the password can be reset by a BlackBerry BES administrator:
Getting your BlackBerry password reset
- Contact the UITS Support Center in Bloomington or
Indianapolis.
For help at Indiana University Bloomington, contact the UITS Support Center at 812-855-6789, or send email to
ithelp@iu.edu. At IUPUI, send email to the same address, or phone the UITS Support Center at 317-274-4357. - Explain that you need your BlackBerry password reset remotely.
Inform the consultant if the device is lost or stolen, because this
poses a data security risk to you.
- You will need to verify your identity in order for UITS to
proceed, either by appearing in person with a photo ID at a UITS
walk-in location (see UITS Support Center walk-in locations and services), or by answering the
questions you set up in the Secret Questions online form you filled
out when you got your BES account (see ARCHIVED: With a BlackBerry at IU, what is the Secret Question ID Verification service?).
- A UITS consultant will verify your identity and initiate a request
for the BES administrators to remotely set a password. In the case of
lost or stolen devices, an emergency request is made, and the
administrators will be paged, even if you call beyond regular business
hours of Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
- The UITS consultant will then communicate the new password to you
without directly stating it. For example, the consultant will say "The
password is the first four letters of your mother's maiden name plus
the last three letters of your favorite pet's name". Make sure you
clearly understand what the consultant is communicating to you, but do
not say the password out loud.
- If you are locked out of your BlackBerry but haven't lost it, make
sure it is turned on and within range of a usable signal. In this
case, if you make the request before 3pm Monday-Friday, the reset
should be complete by 5pm. Otherwise, the reset will occur during the
morning of the next business day.
- The next time you have access to your device, enter your new password to unlock the device.
Last modified on October 25, 2010.
