|
|
|
Unprotected Phones Abandoned At Airports |
|
|
|
Written by Adam Gosling
|
|
Monday, 04 September 2006 |
In
a follow-up to last week's revelations that people will happily sell their cell
phone on eBay without wiping it clean, it turns out that Briton's are just as
likely to leave their phones at the airport and abandon them.
Trust Digital last week revealed the results of its experiment
in the U.S.
where it bought 10
second hand smartphones on eBay and tested to see if they could get any
data left on them accidentally.
Like a PC, files on a cell phone are not actually deleted
when you hit delete. Rather what happens is that the index listing of where to
find the data is erased, while that actual data remains largely intact unless
it is written over by new data.
Out
of 10 phones Trust Digital bought it recovered data off nine of them. The tenth
in fact hadn't even been used which was the reason there was no data left on it
rather than because the previous owner had been diligent about protecting their
data.
Now
another phone security vendor has released the results of a survey which revealed
that 40 per cent of mobiles left at airports over the Northern Summer will
never be reclaimed even though they have no passwords leaving the data on them
totally unprotected. Pointsec actually found that 1 in 4 have no security on
them.
According
to Pointsec Mobile Technologies the devices are ultimately auctioned off (presumably
without being vetted for data) if they are not collected within three months.
It
turns out that people would rather just claim it on their insurance than go to
the trouble of hiking over to the lost property office to see if their phone or
PDA is there.
Heathrow
airport alone has around 5 laptops and 10 mobile phones handed in everyday with
just 60 per cent being reclaimed the rest go to local auction houses after 3
months.
This
means that Heathrow airport auction around 730 lost laptops every year and 1460
mobile phones.
However,
Pointsec found that other Europeans weren't quite so easy going about lost
holiday phones.
In
Sweden
100% of laptops were reclaimed, except at their main airport at Arlanda where
75% were claimed. But when it came to mobile phones the Swede's couldn't
be bothered leaving 40 per cent unclaimed on average and a staggering 70 per
cent unclaimed at Arlanda airport.
Meanwhile, 90 per cent of Norwegians will give up on their phones at Oslo's main airport. More
expensive laptops get collected 95 per cent of the time though.
It
comes as no surprise that in the Finland, the land of the mobile
phone, just over half of people bothered to reclaim their mobile phone but 91 per
cent reclaimed their laptops.
Here in Aus we won't leave our laptops behind. We claim nearly 100 per cent. Except
in Brisbane (home
of mobilised) we don't give a damn if we lose our phone at the airport. Of the mobile
phones handed in every week, absolutely
none have been reclaimed.
Pointsec's
Security Tips
1.
Always set the policies enforceable using strong passwords with a
combination of letters and numbers or even better using symbols to reduce the
risk of passwords being recorded on the laptop, or worse still written on a
sticker stuck on the inside of the device
2. If the laptop is owned by the company deploy security on
the device and centrally manage it.
3. Be vigilant when travelling! Be prepared that they
will get lost, statistics show they probably will so why not write pop up
messages on the screen with contact details which offers a reward if it is
found.
4. Ensure you have a working back up policy
www.pointsec.com
Related news items Newer news items
Older news items |
|
|
