We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

PL89's avatar
PL89
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

Phone stolen - what happens to the files if the thief deletes them?

Hello everyone,

 

I've had this question in my mind since joining the paid version of DropBox and after not receiving answers from the Contact support question, I'm humbly putting it to you, with the hope that  you can help me out in securing my DropBox.

 

My question is the following: my smartphone is connected to my online DropBox, which is good, meaning everytime I receive a photo it is automatically uploaded to my online DB and I can delete it from my phone knowing that it's available online from anywhere. But what happens if: someone steals my phone, connects to the DropBox (which he/she would not need my password for since I'm automatically connected) and deletes my photos and files. They will disappear from the online version, therefore I will not have access to them either through my phone or through another device since they've been deleted already. What can I do to avoid that, i.e. to make sure that everything that's posted online will remain there? (This includes other files that I am synchronising from my smartphone like bookmarks or contacts). The reason that I am asking is that the main reason to pay for an extended DropBox was to make available my files and photos to myself from anywhere in the world, but if all it takes for those to disappear permanently is for someone to take my smartphone that is on and get into my DB and delete everything, then I wonder if my files and photos are secure enough and what I should do to further protect them.

 

Thanks so much in advance and have a great day/night all, from wherever/ whenever you are reading this message!

Account Access
Delete
Security
    • PL89's avatar
      PL89
      New member | Level 2
      3 years ago

      Hi @Mark,

       

      Thanks a lot! Very helpful. I'll make sure that my phone & laptop are well protected and in the hopefully unlikely event where I would lose one of these, I will use the option of disconnecting them from my account.

       

      Thanks again!

  • Здравко's avatar
    Здравко
    Legendary | Level 20
    3 years ago

    Hi PL89,

    Everybody able to access your phone can do whatever you can without password with all your resources there (including Dropbox). Because of this, important step is to protect your phone content generally. Of course, such a protection isn't very reliable, but is usually enough, since someone on the street that steals phones usually doesn't know how to break your protection fast. The last is valid for everything, as I said already. In particular for Dropbox, once you find out that your phone (or other device) has been stolen, unlink this device as soon as possible from your account. In such a way, without link anew (i.e. somebody aware of your credentials), the particular phone (or any device) can NOT affect your Dropbox content in any way.

    How you can unlink some device without access to there? All devices linked to your account are enlisted in your Dropbox Security Settings (scroll down to "Devices" section). Click on the trash bin icon, associated with the device, you want to unlink. 😉 That's it.

    Hope this helps.

    • PL89's avatar
      PL89
      New member | Level 2
      3 years ago

      Hi @Здравко,

       

      Many thanks indeed! I'll strengthen the passwords etc. that protect my devices and will use the ultimate option of disconnecting them should I lose any of those. Thank you for your help 😉

       

      (I'm also now looking into the Vault thingy for the most important files, but I guess I can't move everything that I have into it...)

About Security and Permissions

Start a discussion in the Dropbox Community forum to get help with your account security and permissions. Find support from Community members.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!