[ISN] Study: Mobile Phones Contain Treasure Trove Of Unprotected Data

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:15:52 -0600 (CST)
http://www.darkreading.com/security/client/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215901048

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading
March 18, 2009

Mobile phone users are storing a dangerous amount of personal 
information on their cell phones and other portable devices, and they 
aren't doing nearly enough to protect that data, says a new study.

According to a survey of 600 commuters at London railway stations 
published today by Credant Technologies, 80 percent of phone users store 
information on their phones that could easily be used to steal their 
identities. For example, 16 percent have their bank account details 
saved on their mobile phones, 24 percent keep PIN numbers and passwords 
on their phones, and 10 percent store credit card data.

Virtually all mobile phone users (99 percent) use their devices for some 
sort of business task, even though 26 percent of those users have been 
instructed not to by their companies, the study says. Thirty-five 
percent of users send and receive business email with their mobile 
devices, while 77 percent store business names and contact information. 
Seventeen percent use their mobile devices to download corporate data, 
such as documents and spreadsheets, and 23 percent store customer 
information on their phones.

About 40 percent of these users do not password-protect this data, much 
less use any form of encryption. This could spell disaster for 
individuals -- and even the companies they work for, says Paul 
Huntington, public sector director at Credant.

[...]


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Received on Wed Mar 18 2009 - 23:15:52 PDT

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