Protecting SDU data on smartphones and tablets

From now on, you will need to use the Outlook app on your smartphone or tablet to read your SDU email. In the coming months, different policies will be rolled out to all employees at SDU. We therefore recommend that you stay up to date with our App Policy. You can do this by following our guide below for either Apple devices or Android devices.

iPhone or iPad – iOS Guide
1. Start by removing your SDU account in the regular mail app. If you have multiple SDU accounts, remove them all. They are removed by going into ‘Settings’ on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Then click on the mail icon. Next, click on ‘Account’.
3. You will then be able to see your accounts that are linked to the regular mail app. Click on the one you want to delete, then at the bottom click on ‘Delete account’.
4. Next, find and install the Microsoft Outlook app from the App Store.
5. Start the Microsoft Outlook app and log in with your SDU account. You will then be able to access your email.

Android Guide
1. Start by removing your SDU account in the regular mail app. If you have multiple SDU accounts, remove them all. To remove them, go into ‘Settings’ on your phone.
2. Next, click on ‘Accounts’ and then click on ‘Users and accounts’.
3. You will then be able to see your accounts that are linked to the regular mail app. Click on the account you want to delete and then click ‘Delete account’.
4. Next, find the Microsoft Outlook app in Google Play and install it.
5. Start the Microsoft Outlook app and log in with your SDU account. You will then be able to access your email.
6. Please note that when the policies are activated, it will be a requirement to install the Company Portal app on your device from Google Play. There is no need to log in to the app, but the app must be on the device in order to synchronise the policies.

If you have any problems with the setup or questions regarding the above, you are more than welcome to write to us at servicedesk@sdu.dk

If you have been issued with a phone purchased and owned by SDU, fundamental ownership by SDU will be registered on the phone, and there will be a requirement that the device is updated with the latest updates. If your phone is so old that it can no longer be updated or for other reasons cannot be updated to a suitable security level, your phone will have to be replaced with a new one. This cost is covered by those who have paid for your mobile phone.

You will be informed when the new policies are rolled out, but otherwise you do not need to do anything. On your phone, a security programme called Microsoft Defender (which you also know from your computer) will be installed and the applications that contain SDU data will be subject to certain policies.

What you may notice most is that your SDU email must and can only run in the Microsoft Outlook app. You can no longer check your SDU email in the built-in mail app on your phone. And if your phone is an older model and cannot be updated, you will not be able to access your SDU email on your phone at all. Other applications that are affected are those that typically work with SDU data, such as Teams, Microsoft Office and OneDrive. You will typically encounter protection by not being able to send SDU data from these protected apps to other apps on your phone. As a rule, you will be able to get data the other way round, i.e. from other apps into your SDU data.
Everything else that happens on the phone is of no interest to SDU. You can still have your private email, private OneDrive and whatever else you use, and they will not be affected by these policies.

If you have an iPhone from before 1/1 2021 or an Android issued before 1/11 2023, it will be treated as a private phone as described below until the next time it is reset.

The explanation may sound a bit complicated, but you will rarely be affected by it in everyday life, and if you have any questions or find that something is not working as expected, please contact SDU IT Service Desk.

If you have a private phone that you use at SDU but that you do not use to check your SDU email or to access other SDU data, you will not be affected at all.

But if you use your phone to check your SDU email, for example, your private phone will be subject to some SDU policies. If you do not want these policies on your phone, you will not be able to read your SDU email.

Your SDU email will only be readable in the Outlook mobile app that you need to install. You can no longer check your SDU email in the built-in mail app on your phone. And if your phone is an older model and cannot be updated, you will not be able to access your SDU email on your phone at all.

Other applications that are affected are those that typically work with SDU data, such as Teams, Microsoft Office and OneDrive. You will typically encounter protection by not being able to send SDU data from these protected apps to other apps on your phone. As a rule, you will be able to get data the other way round, i.e. from other apps into your SDU data.

SDU has no knowledge of or interest in anything else that happens on your phone. You can still have your private email, private OneDrive and whatever else you use, and they will not be affected by these policies.

The explanation may sound a bit complicated, but you will rarely be affected by it in everyday life, and if you have any questions or find that something is not working as expected, please contact SDU IT Service Desk.

SDU’s committee on information security and data protection has decided to increase the security of access to SDU’s data from mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). The Centre for Cyber Security has increased the threat assessment for unwanted access to the data at Danish universities from high to very high. Defence against this threat is both the intentional handling of data and specific technical measures that support this in practice. SDU therefore intends to implement an app policy via a technical solution that ensures that data can only be accessed from authorised apps and can be removed from the mobile device if it is lost.

The measure is activated regardless of whether you are using a device purchased by SDU or a privately purchased device that will access SDU’s data.

SDU cannot see anything about your general use of the phone via the specific solution. However, we do log the following when using apps that are subject to the policies:

• Date/time
• Username
• IP address
• Operating System
• Compliant Status (Complies with SDU’s minimum requirements).

In order for the device to access/store SDU data, it is a requirement that the device’s security is updated and supported. The policy only affects your SDU account in specific apps, but not a private account that may be connected to the same apps.

This means that your private Gmail account can still be added to your Outlook app or you can add your private OneDrive account without restricting your use of apps with a private account. The list of affected apps can be found below:

• Skype for Business
• Microsoft Edge
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Office
• Microsoft OneNote
• Microsoft Planner
• Microsoft Power BI
• Microsoft SharePoint
• Microsoft OneDrive
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Microsoft Lists
• Microsoft Whiteboard
• Zoom for Intune

This list is subject to change as services are cancelled and new services or apps are introduced.