post froyo 2.2 "activate device administrator" - update security settings" notices

[DrALC]

Has anyone been getting repeated notifications that you need to activate your device administrator - and update your security settings once you have installed the froyo 2.2 update?  I installed the update yesterday - and I have been getting this message ever since then... I have not opted to activate because the warnings indicate that activation will erase all your data, limit passwords, watch login attempts and force locks... yickes!   do I really want all that?  I called the support phone number for Verizon and the techs didn't know what that was - that made  me feel really comfortable.... so they had me completely re-set my phone...  ughhhhhh   that darn notification is still popping up.  any help would be appreciated.

thanks all 

[Cobjones]

It is originating from your email. Check all of your corporate email settings (even if you don't have one set up).

[Yagermeister]

I am the Exchange Admin for my company and no changes have taken place in 6 months whatsoever. FRG01B did not have these notices at all but FRG22D does. Verizon, any ideas?

-Yagermeister

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Cobjones wrote:
It is originating from your email. Check all of your corporate email settings (even if you don't have one set up).

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[PJNC284]

FRG22D included some improved security updates so that's probably why it just popped up for you. 

[Yagermeister]

Same issue here...

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DrALC wrote:

Has anyone been getting repeated notifications that you need to activate your device administrator - and update your security settings once you have installed the froyo 2.2 update?  I installed the update yesterday - and I have been getting this message ever since then... I have not opted to activate because the warnings indicate that activation will erase all your data, limit passwords, watch login attempts and force locks... yickes!   do I really want all that?  I called the support phone number for Verizon and the techs didn't know what that was - that made  me feel really comfortable.... so they had me completely re-set my phone...  ughhhhhh   that darn notification is still popping up.  any help would be appreciated.

thanks all 

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[Cobjones]

@yager

Not on your end, on the phones end.

[Yagermeister]

I understand some security enhancements were probably added by Froyo FRG22D but why do they "not stick"? I get the notice to update the settings everytime I reboot the phone.

[btsawyer]

I'm getting the Activate device administrator message and it has the following warnings:

"Activating administrator will allow Email to perform the following operations:

Erase All Data

Limit Password

Watch login attempts

Force Lock

The server is sending these "demands" and I have no love for nannies who think I need to be coddled.

Does anyone here know how I can tell our Exchange 2007 server to bug off?

I don't intend to let these nannies take over my life as if I were some senile idiot.

[PJNC284]

You'll have to check with the IT administrator to see if there are any security policies in place

[YinzViz]

The short answer is:

it's Motorola, not Exchange.

This gives the Exchange Admin *the ability* to wipe out the data. It does not wipe out the data when you Activate it.

The longer answer is:

1. Accept it.

2. Reboot if you get an error.

3. Accept it again if it asks again.

4. Wait a few minutes.

5. All is well.

The background is:

We run Exchange 2007 CCR SP2 vanilla, with Standard CALs not Enterprise CALs which allow for BlackBerry-lite control over phones. We do not enforce passwords--it's unchecked in the Default Client Access policy.

We have folks with Droid 1 and Droid 2.

Droid 2: you must set a password

Droid 1: Build number FRG01B ... no Exchange policies

Droid 1: Build number FRG22D ... Exchange polices. And these are more intrusive than the policies listed on the Droid 2

As an Exchange Admin, let me say: it ain't us.

As an IT Director, let me say: I think it's a good idea, badly executed. A lost phone is like a lost safe deposit box. It just takes time to jimmy. If you want others to keep your data secure, then the price you pay is to securing your own data. We're grownups. We understand this. It just needed something less threatening and ambiguous than prison orange text ... and a reiteration of a way to backup the phones ...

[mkh167]

OK I Activated it. However during the process it asked for a password or PIN.  Now the phone asks for a PIN everytime I unlock the screen!  Now how do I get that off?

[foggy]

Sure, let's just make the Droid so annoyiing that I'll want to go get an iphone from AT&T.

Or maybe they are trying to tell me that I shouldn't be checking my work email on my personal phone anyway.

I've been very happy without this feature since I've started using a cellphone.

{edited for privacy}

[btsawyer]

Well put YinzBiz. The only thing I'm not going to do is accept the "invitation" to update. I'm the IT Manager and understand that Verizon wants to cover its assets or have another selling point for the Droid. But I'd rather invest in a self-destruct to be used if the phone is lost/stolen. Exchange is only a small part of the info on my phone.

[Cobjones]

You should go get an iphone.. {please keep your posts courteous}. Plus ATT will tell you how to work it.

[TheGreatOne]

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Cobjones wrote:

You should go get an iphone.. {please keep your posts courteous}. Plus ATT will tell you how to work it.

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I'll never quite understand why people love the iphone so much & what all the hype is all about

[VZONeb]

I'm seeing this issue as well.  My Exchange administrators tell me there are no security settings in place that should trigger this.  It's a Verizon bug.  And an {word filter avoidance}
serious one.

[jp4par]

The iPhone has the same security settings. I'm a Systems Admin and manage an Exchange server. Most of our users have the iPhone and we had to set them up with a 4 digit code to get into their phone. This is a security requirement from the Exchange server (it's set up in Exchange by default and can be disabled, but not per phone, per organization). This is the price you pay to have your company's email on your phone.

I am 1 of 2 people in our organization with the DROID and was excited that I didn't have to enter a 4 digit code to get into my phone. It seems they're trying to implement the same security settings as the iPhone. I use a pattern to get into my phone anyway. The 4 digit code can't be that big of an inconvenience.

Everyone wants a piece of the corporate phone marketplace that Blackberry has pretty much owned for years.

[z3razerviper]

I always thought that was **bleep** to completely lock the whole phone it shoudl only put a pin on the email & calendar app itself.

At the moment I cant even setup my companies exchange server with FRG22D cause it forces closes during the process. worked fine with all the previous 2.2, 2.1, 2.0 updates.Note i was trying to setup from scrach since i did a hard reset due to other issues.

And my boss who did not wipe had it setup already but can get no updates from work  for anything after the update.

Company is HP (No I am not going to buy a pre)

[jac1985]

So I should accept it? And it won't wipe out my contacts and everything else? But then I'm going to have to enter a password/PIN every time to unlock my phone? UGH. Verizon/Droid please fix this!!

[mattbooty]

I know most of this thread has turned into general questions about exchange and security policies, but back to what someone earlier asked, why does it re-prompt every time I reboot my phone?

A little background, my company ran exchange 2003 and even on froyo I did NOT have these additional security prompts.  We are upgrading to exchange 2010, I moved my mailbox and got the prompts everyone is mentioning (one looked like an installation prompt giving email permission to wipe, etc, the other said "Update Security Settings").  I accepted both. 

NOW everytime I reboot my phone, I once again get a notification to "Update Security Settings".  Why?  As said before, if I've accepted them once why must I continue to accept after every reboot?  It appears to not be an issue with exchange 2003, only 2010 (and possibly 2007). 

I'm the guinea pig before moving other mailboxes to 2010 and I'm afraid to do it until this is solved because our non-IT droid users may not want to deal with the prompts every time they reboot.

Any way to stop this?

[pakman]

Coming from a Droid user /admin I think I've got this figured out.

It used to be that if your server was set to force allow 'wipe, etc' the droid would say 'your email provider requires security that this does not support : http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5337

I guess Froyo has updated to allow this.

If you click "ok"  and then 'activate' it allows the device to submit to possible server based wipes.

Now don't all going panicky.

Blackberry's have had this security for ages.. back when they where more proprietary device.

There are ways to disable this.. but in actuality, a good adminsitrator wouldn't want to do that.

Best recomendation is to tell users to 'click ok' AND then "Activate" to allow this to happen.

Unless your admin commit's a hugely horribly accidental wipe, you really should be super safe.

I don't know admins that have been admining things for years that have learned how to actually push a wipe.

If you'd like to know how to disable it.. there's a google search for that