THE next time a colleague leaves a Blackberry on your desk, pick it up and see how much information you can access on it before you're stopped. Some will have password locks or other protection preventing you from reading personal information, but more often than not you'll be able to check out emails and access documents and other personal information.
The migration to mobile smartphones has us banking, working and communicating on devices that are always with us. And because we drag them from boardroom to coffee shop, they are also prone to getting lost.
Identity theft is a prolific and growing area of crime in SA. It is also a danger that could result from lost and stolen phones with personal information. Other risks include sensitive company information falling into the wrong hands.
Some companies have policies that enforce cellphone security. Blackberry has a powerful framework for firms to secure these devices, which remotely adjusts settings and applies policies enforced on employee's devices.
My cellphone requires me to entre a short code every time I use it. If the code is entered incorrectly three times, the phone locks for five minutes. After 10 incorrect tries it will automatically erase all data stored on it.
Goldmine for grabs
Email on cellphones has brought everything from identity information to banking credentials into one easy place for the baddies to get at. The need for security is paramount.
Russian IT security company Kapsersky Lab has launched a product called Mobile Security which aims to protect smartphone users and their information from exploitation. The first time I was told about the product I must admit I thought it was another hyped-up security solution capitalising on our paranoia and lack of understanding of the real threats.
I was wrong.
Kaspersky Lab acknowledges that viruses and other malware are not the primary risk for cellphone users - the real threat lies in losing information.
Says Costin Raiu, chief security expert at Kaspersky Lab, who spoke to me in Johannesburg: "Most of the malware for mobile phones is being deployed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Russia. We don't see it elsewhere really. But what we're trying to do with our mobile suite is protect the mobile phones against other things such as theft, or if your mobile phone gets lost.
"I don't know about you, but I keep all my emails in my mobile phone and I know people who keep their credit card pin numbers there, for example. This information can get into the wrong hands if your phone is lost or stolen." In South Africa many people also use their cellphones to access banking services.
Raiu says the Kasperksy Mobile Security suite has features designed to protect information if your phone falls into the wrong hands.
Get your own back
The software is installed on your phone and allows you to send a message to it if it's stolen. This will instruct your phone to remove all information stored on it. The software will also keep your information encrypted and prevent access to files on the device.
You can also SMS your stolen phone, which will reply with its exact location if it has a built-in GPS, and link to Google Maps where you can track it.
Most thieves will replace your SIM card. Kaspersky has designed a solution so that if a new SIM card is inserted, your phone will send you an SMS with the new number and, again, a link to its location.
The phone will keep you updated with its new numbers and locations, which you can hand over to the police and the cellular networks involved.
At present the solution is only available for Windows Mobile phones and those that run the Symbian operating system, such as most Nokias.
Raiu says that in eastern Europe baddies use particular cellphone models to clone credentials and intercept messages - such as those SMSes that are sent to you when you log into your banking site. The criminal steals your username and password, logs in and captures the SMS sent from the bank using the cloned technology.
Fortunately in South Africa our mobile networks are sophisticated enough to stop most of these forms of attack, but it seems likely we will see more attempts coming as more people switch to mobile smartphones and use these for personal information access and storage.
The mobile migration is bringing a new world of productivity and communications to our pockets, but caution is required.
- Fin24.com