Lost or stolen device: what to do in the first hour
For every employee who carries a company laptop, phone or tablet, or uses a personal phone for work email. No prerequisites. It covers the first hour after you notice a device is missing: reporting it to IT at once with the right details, what locate, lock, erase and retire each do and who should choose them, securing the accounts the device could reach, the police and phone carrier reports, and the scam messages that often follow a loss. The steps for iPhone, Android and Windows come from Apple, Google and Microsoft's support pages; your company's procedure decides who does what and how to contact IT.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 66 minutes
- Contents
- 5 lessons · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 10 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Report a lost or stolen device to IT within minutes, giving the details IT needs to act
- Choose between locate, lock, erase and retire for a missing device, and say who should take each action
- Secure the accounts a missing device could reach without destroying data you still need
- Complete the follow-up reports: police, phone carrier, and any lost property or insurance contacts
- Identify scam messages that follow a device loss and respond safely
Course outline
- 1.Reporting a lost or stolen device to IT within minutesLesson · 12 min
- 2.Choosing between locate, lock, erase and retire, and who takes each actionLesson · 14 min
- 3.Securing the accounts a missing device could reachLesson · 10 min
- 4.Completing the follow-up reports: police, carrier and lost propertyLesson · 8 min
- 5.Identifying scam messages that follow a device lossLesson · 8 min
- 6.Lost or stolen device: what to do in the first hour: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 14 questions
- 7.Lost or stolen device: what to do in the first hour: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 8.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- NCSC (UK): Device security guidance, Advising end users (version 2.1, reviewed 13 May 2025)
- NCSC (UK): Device security guidance, Erasing devices (reviewed 13 May 2025)
- CISA: Protecting Portable Devices: Physical Security (revised 27 September 2019)
- Apple Support: How to find your lost iPhone or iPad (Find My, Lost Mode, remote erase)
- Android Help: Find, secure, or erase a lost Android device (Find Hub)
- Microsoft Support: Find and lock a lost Windows device
- Microsoft Learn: Wipe devices with Microsoft Intune
- Microsoft Learn: Device action: retire (Microsoft Intune)
See it with your own jobs and topics
Tell us about your team and we'll walk you through setup, from choosing jobs to your first skills check.