Guess What Happens When You Lose Your Mobile Phone?

Have you ever lost your phone or had it stolen? Either way, it’s not a good feeling. Often the frustration and concern goes beyond the mere cost of replacing the device – the information lost is personal, and for many of us, irreplaceable.

Now, more than ever, personal and professional data is stored on our smartphones, and when the device is lost, this data becomes vulnerable. Think about all of the photos stored plus the work and personal email accounts, banking info, and contact lists stored on smartphones. In the case of a lost or stolen device, all of this information can potentially be accessed by a stranger. Keeping in mind that one in four devices are lost or stolen globally, most of us will experience it too.

To illustrate this point, the Honey Stick Project was created by Symantec and a security researcher in Ottawa to find out how regular Canadians react to finding a lost phone in public. Sixty smartphones were pre-populated with fake data and “lost” in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax. They were remotely monitored to track what happened to them once they were found. No password protection was enforced and no security software installed.

The study found that 93 percent of ‘lost’ devices were accessed, plus 83 percent of devices showed attempts to access personal apps or data, and 63 percent of the devices showed attempts to access corporate-related apps or data.

Only 55 percent of people tried to return a device. Find out more at go.symantec.com/honeystickcanada.

With the high odds of losing or having a device stolen, plus advances in mobile hacking, scams and malware, it’s definitely time to prioritize your mobile security.

www.newscanada.com