MOBILE DEVICE SECURITY: Lost and Forlorn

A survey on “Mobile Device Security at Airports” shows that the British
are lackadaisical when it comes to losing mobile devices, as compared to many of
their counterparts around the globe! After three months they are auctioned when
not claimed, and with one in four having no security on them they could become a
potential security risk to the owner or their company.

Travellers will be returning from their vacations this summer, without their
mobile phones or laptops because they lost it whilst traveling at a busy British
airport. But they don't care, because according to the findings of a survey
released recently by Pointsec Mobile Technologies, between 40 to 50 percent of
people can't be bothered trekking to the lost property office of a hectic
airport to reclaim their mobile phones, laptops or PDAs. They'd prefer to
claim from their insurance company or let their company provide them with a new
upgraded version and enjoy their trip instead.

This was not the case when it comes to our European counterparts who were all
keen to collect their laptops. However, they were in many cases also pretty
carefree when it came to trying to trace their mobile phones. In Sweden 100
percent of laptops were reclaimed, except at their main airport at Arlanda where
75 percent were claimed. However, people in Sweden were far more lax about
reclaiming their mobile phone with 60 percent on average being collected with
just 30 percent being claimed at Arlanda airport.

The Norwegians were carefree when it came to trying to retrieve their mobile
phones at Oslo's main airport with a tiny minority of just 10 percent going to
collect their phones from the lost property office. However they were far more
vigilant when it came to reclaiming their laptops with 95 percent being
reclaimed.

The Australians were also pretty keen to reclaim their laptops with an almost
100 percent reclaim rate in the four airports which were surveyed. But bizarrely
in Brisbane, of the mobile phones that are handed in every week, absolutely none
have been reclaimed. It comes as no surprise that in Finland, the land of the
mobile phone, just over half the people bothered to reclaim their mobile phone
but 91 percent reclaimed their laptops.

One in four have no security!

The survey found that of the mobile devices that were handed into the lost
property office in airports around the UK, one in four mobile phones or laptops
had absolutely no security on them, with the staff being able to switch them on
and start them.

Peter Larsson, CEO for Pointsec, said, “Often people do not realize how
valuable their information can be to others such as hackers, competitors or
thieves. Most people keep personal and customer details on their mobile devices
and in our experience it's when these contact details go missing that people
and their companies really begin to worry.

Mobile devices are cheap these days, so people can't be bothered to reclaim
them, as they know their company will probably give them a new, more fancy
upgrade. Therefore it's far more important for the company to protect the
information and make it a mandatory procedure to have encryption on all mobile
devices and individuals too should always use passwords and try and encrypt the
data if it's sensitive.”

Larsson continued, “With ID theft at an all time high with an estimated
1,00,000 people a year affected costing in the region of £1.7 billion in the UK
alone, those people who do lose a mobile device at an airport should think twice
about whether they should take the time to reclaim it, otherwise it will be
auctioned with the contents freely available to whoever buys it at a public
auction!”

Auctioned after three months

Heathrow airport alone has around five laptops and 10 mobile phones handed in
everyday with just 60 percent being reclaimed the rest go to local auction
houses after three months. This means that Heathrow airport auctions around 730
lost laptops every year and 1,460 mobile phones! So if you want a cheap mobile
phone or laptop you know where to go to pick one up at a knockdown second hand
price!

When Pointsec's researcher phoned the lost property office at London's
Heathrow airport they said that there had been a dramatic increase in the number
of lost laptops since BAA had stepped up security. People now have to take their
laptop out of their bags and turn them on to ensure they are not a security
risk. It is then that people seem to leave their laptop behind in the security
area of the departure lounge.

Pointsec's advice to people who travel with mobile devices is that if they
are not secured with encryption or strong passwords and they have sensitive
information that could be used by someone, you must make the effort to reclaim
them. For people who encrypt their mobile device they need only worry about the
cost of the lost device and not the data residing on it because once encrypted
no one can get at the information.

- The information given in this article are findings of a survey
released by Pointsec Mobile Technologies. DQ Channels is not responsible for the
accuracy or reliability of the information provided in this article.