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Seven Tips to Help You %?#$! Stop Losing Your Phone!

DEVICES / 04.02.16 / Ryan Blundell

StealingI’ve never lost a phone or had it stolen. Ever. Mind you, I’ve “misplaced” a silenced BlackBerry or two in my time. They’ve always been in the house, and were easily found using the BlackBerry Protect “Play Sound” service.

I may be one of the lucky ones; in 2014, 5.2 million smartphone disappeared in America; 2.1 million of those were confirmed as stolen. That’s more smartphones than the entire population of Norway.

Nomophobia, aka the fear of being without a phone, may seem trivial to some, but many people are deeply affected by anxiety over that loss of connection. If I were ever to lose my BlackBerry (hypothetically speaking of course), I would probably only be worried if I didn’t put a passcode on it. To me, it’s not about being disconnected; it’s about what someone could connect to because of me.

We know that it’s not necessarily the device that malicious parties are interested in, as much as the data it contains. Account access details, financial information, your address or private corporate documents (shame on you) could be worth far more than the phone itself.

Yes, some are just looking to make a quick buck on the phone, but more savvy and risk-taking criminals may try to plunge into your data. If that happens, you could be looking at identity theft, fraudulent charges or even blackmail. It’s devastating enough to think about that on a personal level, but what if it was happening to your company and with all of your clients’ data?

At the risk of sounding like Smokey the Bear, only YOU can prevent yourself from losing your phone. Ultimately, it’s your own habits (probably bad ones) that may cause you to and your device to part ways. So how do you prevent your mobile device from becoming lost? Here are seven ways.dropped-phone

Yes, losing your smartphone is an inconvenience, especially for your wallet. But you can’t compare that to the cost of losing control over your private data. Even worse, you just granted access to your company’s data. Albeit brief, assuming it was remotely wiped, the time spent with your phone has given a stranger access to the most valuable currency around: information. If you can’t guarantee that you’ll never let your device become lost or stolen, make sure you make it as difficult as possible for anyone to skim private data from it.

Ryan Blundell

About Ryan Blundell

Ryan has been involved in the wireless industry for well over a decade; currently managing technical communication, interaction design and content strategy for a Canadian wireless provider. He has previously been published on Innovation Insights, Business 2 Community, Everything Zoomer and CrackBerry.com. You can follow Ryan on twitter @ryanblundell