Technology

What Really Happens to Your Smartphone When You Lose It?

You’ve lost your phone. You‘ve called it and can’t hear it anywhere in your house. It must be in a public place, although no one has answered it for you. What could be happening to your precious, expensive and most likely private information-containing device?

The Symantec Smartphone Honeystick Project set out to answer that question, intentionally losing 50 smartphones with a “collection of simulated corporate and personal data” on them.

Symantec Smartphone Honeystick Project Finds Out What Happens to Lost Devices

A smartphone "lost" intentionally in a public place for research purposes. (Photo: Symantec)

Knowing that smartphones hold a whole host of information now — everything from banking data to personal messages and images — Symantec’s Kevin Haley and Scott Wright from Security Perspectives, who was the project lead, wanted to find out what really happened to them when they were lost. Here are some factors what they hoped to identify:

  • Likelihood of a finder attempting to access data on the smartphone
  • Likelihood of a finder attempting to access corporate applications and data and/or personal applications and data
  • Amount of time before a lost smartphone is moved or accessed
  • Likelihood of a finder attempting to return a device to its owner

The 50 phones with tracking technology were “lost” in high traffic areas — elevators, shopping centers, food courts, on public transit — in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles; San Francisco, and Ottawa, Canada. The project found that 50 percent of phones were attempted to be returned to their rightful owner. There were also some interesting statistics of the intrusions on the found phones:

  • 96 percent of the lost smartphones were accessed by the finders of the devices
  • 89 percent of the devices were accessed for personal related apps and information
  • 83 percent of the devices were accessed for corporate related apps and information
  • 70 percent of the devices were accessed for both business and personal related apps and information
Symantec Smartphone Honeystick Project Finds Out What Happens to Lost Devices

Location of some of the "lost" phones. (Image: Symantec)

Delving more specifically into these statistics, the report states that on the corporate side 45 percent attempted to access corporate email accounts through the phone and 53 percent went into a file entitled “HR Salaries.” On a personal level, 72 percent looked into private photo files; 43 percent tried to access private banking info; 60 percent attempted social networking sites and personal email access; and 57 percent tried to access a “Saved Passwords” file.

The researchers acknowledge that accessing some personal or corporate information could be to help identify contact information for the rightful owner, but they still said, even in cases when the phones were returned, some liberties were taken.

On average, it took 10.2 hours for attempted access to the device to be made, but the researchers note that the median time, based on actual access attempts was 59 minutes.

Haley offers two basic pieces of advice, in addition to a whole host of recommendations for corporations and individuals to protect their information. He says the most basic form of protection, which may seem like a no-brainer for some but should be reinforced, is password protection. The second is using the ability to wipe data from the phone remotely when it’s lost.

[H/T PC World]

Comments (24)

  • infortheride
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 6:30pm

    MUST WATCH VIDEO. Say goodbye to our first amendment.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErzxOz3Dzv8&feature=player_embedded#at=194

    Report Post »  
  • father_of_10
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 6:23pm

    When I find a lost smartphone, I access the information to find out if it is owned by a liberal treehugging 99%er OWS granola crunching pinko commie progressive freeloader. If it is, I take the phone down to the halfway house for white collar criminals and give it to them, you know, so that we can share the wealth and all.

    I hated communists even before they started calling themselves liberals.
    http://fatherof10.com

    Report Post » father_of_10  
  • RedManBlueState
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 2:35pm

    I have found phones 3 times. Twice at the Mall, once in a restaurant. All 3 times, I opened the address book and called “Mom.”

    Report Post » RedManBlueState  
    • mharry860
      Posted on March 13, 2012 at 9:38pm

      I was thinking that you might do everything mentioned in the article to find the owner, until I read your post. Genius!

      Report Post » mharry860  
    • cousanewa
      Posted on March 14, 2012 at 12:18am

      lol ya. and why would you need to look at the personal buissness files?

      Report Post »  
  • BarackStalin
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:55pm

    Hey if the cops can search around on your cell phone without a warrant, then a citizen should be able to search around on your cell phone too.

    The court ruled a cell phone search was to be treated like a diary. If you lose your diary, whoever finds it will probably read some of it.

    Now if your banking information is listed in your diary, and someone uses it to steal from you that’s a crime. But accessing the info is just reading your lost diary.

    Report Post » BarackStalin  
  • dfmcse
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 12:36pm

    This when we get to see everybody post about how they don’t use smartphones. Well good for you folks. I use a smartphone. I use security precautions since I use a smartphone. If my phone had been lost the phone is already locked. When I discover the phone is gone I can have it wiped. You don’t need to panic or be fearful if you understand the tech you are utilizing. By the way, all you folks who don’t have smartphones . . . you’re using a computer. If you’re not going to use a smartphone for fear of it being lost and your data stolen. Why would you use a computer? Your computer doesn’t even have to be lost or stole for your data to be stolen, malware and viruses are a constant threat.

    Report Post »  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:51am

    The way I see it, they become somebody else’s smartphone. GOD BLESS AMERICA and INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

    Report Post »  
  • ki4idb
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:19am

    Not really sure that this report gave us a lot of useful information … most of those stats are on stuff I would have done just to find the owner of the phone.

    Report Post » ki4idb  
  • RamonPreston
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 11:04am

    If it’s so smart, why can‘t it find it’s way home? :)

    Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • Glock31
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 10:37am

    i have an ounce of C4 imbedded in my phone, if the password is entered wrong twice, kaboom, lol

    Report Post » Glock31  
    • blackyb
      Posted on March 14, 2012 at 4:11am

      You are likely to get in trouble just for saying this. This is the best the JD can do. It makes them look busy to bother private citizens who joke around. They are real heros, right? Sickening.

      Report Post » blackyb  
  • Shellback
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 9:58am

    I actually lost my phone this moring while slugging into work. I knew I had it in the car and suspected it came out of my holster as I departed the vehicle. I sent an email to the other slugs (riders) that commute to the area where I work asking for help. The driver located it and since it is IPhone 4S, he used SIRI to find out who owned the phone and called me after receiving my email. Had I not gotten a call back, I could permantely lock the phone from any PC and also use the locater service to see where it was.

    Report Post » Shellback  
  • pamela kay
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 4:24am

    I am glad I don’t have one.

    Report Post » pamela kay  
    • G-WHIZ
      Posted on March 13, 2012 at 10:43am

      I have an older-style “flip”fone,which has many capabilities…I have electric-tape-dot over the lense, and only use it for real phone-calls…no txt or tweet or annything else. Couple tomes a week , I deleate all received and called numbers. Thet will find a few friends, a vetrinary, 911, but no businesses…Other “special” numbers are on paper or in my memmory. So-far, human memmory and paper are not [hack-able] by celfone tech! Any e-mails,etc… are done only on a real computer.

      Report Post »  
  • Old_Warrior
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:54am

    I don’t use smartphones because they can get lost. So I use a dumb phone that‘s still tied to the wall or it doesn’t work anymore. No way my personal info is getting loaded onto a small portable toy for grownups. I shiver at the thought.

    Report Post » Old_Warrior  
  • Chuck Stein
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:31am

    I find a phone and I’m going to try to return it. Thus, I would be part of the “•96 percent of the lost smartphones were accessed by the finders of the devices AND •89 percent of the devices were accessed for personal related apps and information” — how else would I get info on whose it is and how to contact them?

    Report Post »  
    • ConfederateMormon
      Posted on March 13, 2012 at 3:22am

      The only info I would look at is the contact list. I’d call the first person on it and tell them, “Hey the person who owns this phone left it at such and such a place. I’ll leave it at the lost and found desk.”

      Report Post » ConfederateMormon  
  • NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 12:45am

    Very simple. Mine will explode taking out everything in a fifty foot radius. It’s called the safety factor. Hope you will understand.

    Report Post »  
  • Nobummer
    Posted on March 13, 2012 at 12:05am

    Could we try this in an area that isn’t as morally bankrupt? It would be quite telling.

    Report Post »  

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