Smartphones: What to do if You Lose One
Business Technology | July 11, 2012
Many if not most of us own smartphones nowadays and they hold a lot of information. What will happen in the event you lose it?
The security risk of lost smartphones
Researchers at Symantec learned that 96 percent of people that find a lost smartphone attempted to access personal or business data stored in the device. The research also found out that 45 percent of people who found a lost smartphone made an effort to access the corporate e-mail client on the device. This is certainly scary news. Naturally, smartphones are designed to be tiny. It’s not hard to misplace them.
Human nature and smartphone tech
The Symantec study is undoubtedly an intriguing one because it says a great deal about human nature. Symantec intentionally left 50 smartphones in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Ottawa. Each phone was loaded with fake files and apps that contained no information but were labeled with enticing names such as “online banking,” “social media,” and “saved passwords.”
According to the study results, 72 percent of individuals who found a phone made an effort to access photos, 57 percent attempted to open a file named “saved passwords,” and 43 percent tried to open the “online banking” app. This should concern those who have the habit of losing their phone.
Protecting your smartphone
The Symantec study makes us understand that we have a large amount of data on our smartphones which should be protected. Luckily, there are some easy ways to do this.
The easiest way is to create a very secure password that is tough to guess. As an added measure there are many security programs that lock apps and files on smartphones. Additionally there are some services and apps that can wipe a smartphone’s memory from a remote location. Whatever you choose to go with, it has become clear that smartphone security measures should be taken.
Many if not most of us own smartphones nowadays and they hold a lot of information. What will happen in the event you lose it?
The security risk of lost smartphones
Researchers at Symantec learned that 96 percent of people that find a lost smartphone attempted to access personal or business data stored in the device. The research also found out that 45 percent of people who found a lost smartphone made an effort to access the corporate e-mail client on the device. This is certainly scary news. Naturally, smartphones are designed to be tiny. It’s not hard to misplace them.
Human nature and smartphone tech
The Symantec study is undoubtedly an intriguing one because it says a great deal about human nature. Symantec intentionally left 50 smartphones in New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Ottawa. Each phone was loaded with fake files and apps that contained no information but were labeled with enticing names such as “online banking,” “social media,” and “saved passwords.”
According to the study results, 72 percent of individuals who found a phone made an effort to access photos, 57 percent attempted to open a file named “saved passwords,” and 43 percent tried to open the “online banking” app. This should concern those who have the habit of losing their phone.
Protecting your smartphone
The Symantec study makes us understand that we have a large amount of data on our smartphones which should be protected. Luckily, there are some easy ways to do this.
The easiest way is to create a very secure password that is tough to guess. As an added measure there are many security programs that lock apps and files on smartphones. Additionally there are some services and apps that can wipe a smartphone’s memory from a remote location. Whatever you choose to go with, it has become clear that smartphone security measures should be taken.