Here’s a sure-fire way to compromise your identity and risk important personal data this holiday season: Lose your cell phone when you’re shopping.
Credant Technologies, which bills itself as an expert in data protection, found in a recent survey that more than 2,200 cell phones were brought to the lost-and-found departments in 15 of the nation’s busiest shopping malls this year. Some 90% of those were smartphones.
And get this: A whopping 50% of them were never claimed. What’s more, many of them were unsecured.
“No matter where we look we find that unprotected devices are being left behind,” said Sean Glynn, vice president of marketing at Credant, which tracks lost phones from a number of venues.
“People store large amounts of private data, whether personal or corporate on all of the devices they have,” he said. “You really should be sensitive about protecting that data.”
That information is a gold mine for thieves and the bounty is growing with each smartphone purchase. Already, more than a third of the 234 million Americans who own mobile devices have smartphones, according to comScore’s most recent data.
Given all the functions and the hundreds of applications available to use, the smartphone is not just a talking and texting device but a workhorse.
“Consumers are basically walking around with unprotected mini-computers as mobile phones,” said Mary Monahan, research director at Javelin Strategy and Research.
Leaving your phone unprotected is akin to putting a neon sign on your house saying you are on vacation and the key is under the mat.
“As more money starts moving on mobile, criminals will follow,” she said. “Consumers need to be kept safe and secure on the mobile channel.”
Keith Gordon immediately set up password protection and installed a remote-wipe application as soon as he got his new iPhone 4S. The remote-wipe allows him to have all his information wiped off the phone from a distance — whether it’s on or not — should it get lost or stolen.
“Those are really basic security functions that folks should do to their phones,” said Gordon, who is the senior vice president for online security at Bank of America. “The worst thing that can happen now is that I can lose my phone but not my data.”
Not all systems have that service but there are a number of things consumers can do to protect themselves and the information stored on their phones.
Credant Technologies, which bills itself as an expert in data protection, found in a recent survey that more than 2,200 cell phones were brought to the lost-and-found departments in 15 of the nation’s busiest shopping malls this year. Some 90% of those were smartphones.
And get this: A whopping 50% of them were never claimed. What’s more, many of them were unsecured.
“No matter where we look we find that unprotected devices are being left behind,” said Sean Glynn, vice president of marketing at Credant, which tracks lost phones from a number of venues.
“People store large amounts of private data, whether personal or corporate on all of the devices they have,” he said. “You really should be sensitive about protecting that data.”
That information is a gold mine for thieves and the bounty is growing with each smartphone purchase. Already, more than a third of the 234 million Americans who own mobile devices have smartphones, according to comScore’s most recent data.
Given all the functions and the hundreds of applications available to use, the smartphone is not just a talking and texting device but a workhorse.
“Consumers are basically walking around with unprotected mini-computers as mobile phones,” said Mary Monahan, research director at Javelin Strategy and Research.
Leaving your phone unprotected is akin to putting a neon sign on your house saying you are on vacation and the key is under the mat.
“As more money starts moving on mobile, criminals will follow,” she said. “Consumers need to be kept safe and secure on the mobile channel.”
Keith Gordon immediately set up password protection and installed a remote-wipe application as soon as he got his new iPhone 4S. The remote-wipe allows him to have all his information wiped off the phone from a distance — whether it’s on or not — should it get lost or stolen.
“Those are really basic security functions that folks should do to their phones,” said Gordon, who is the senior vice president for online security at Bank of America. “The worst thing that can happen now is that I can lose my phone but not my data.”
Not all systems have that service but there are a number of things consumers can do to protect themselves and the information stored on their phones.
- Treat your phone with the same amount of security care that you do your computer. Use applications that can help protect you from viruses and malware.
- Having said that, be careful of what you’re downloading to your phone, Monahan warned. In March, Android Marketplace took more than 50 apps off when they were found to be infected with malware. “Android is the No. 1 operating system for mobile devices because it is an open platform, but it’s also open to criminals,” she said. “Wait for apps to be reviewed, and check out the publisher of the app to make sure it is legitimate. Be careful when giving ‘permissions’ to apps. Does that game you are downloading really need access to your location and your contacts? I think not.”
- Get password protection and chose a different pass code for your phone than what you use on your computer.
- Encrypt valuable data, Credant suggested. Even if it’s lost, many finders will be snooping around.
- Keep records of what information you have stored on your phone. Some of it, like your bank accounts and passwords, will be impenetrable, according to Gordon, but thieves like to layer bits and pieces of information to get a clearer picture of you.
- Get remote-wipe capability if it’s offered.
- Get a find-my-phone function whenever possible. That uses GPS to track down your phone.
- Check to see if your smartphone can be set so that data is erased automatically after a prescribed number of pass codes have failed. That won’t save the information but could spare your sanity.
- When shopping this season, put that phone in a safe place and keep it there. Don’t leave it on the tray at food court, on a bench in the dressing room or in the stall in the restroom.
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