August 29, 2006 3:49 PM PDT
Stolen smart phones scream to be found
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A new service called Mobile Manager, from Synchronica, can remotely make a Windows Mobile-based handset emit an "annoying and embarrassing high-pitched wail," so it can be found after it has been stolen or misplaced.
Synchronica is a U.K.-based vendor of mobile-device management tools that aims to help victims of cell phone theft to strike back, according to a company statement sent Monday.
Thousands of mobile phones are stolen every month, according to Synchronica. If these are smart phones, they can contain sensitive information such as e-mail messages and computer files, potentially causing embarrassing data leaks.
Synchronica's mobile-phone management product can remotely lock and wipe data from Windows-based phones as soon as their owners report the loss. Companies can also turn on the "Synchronica Scream" feature.
"On average, it takes only 30 seconds for someone to notice that their phone is missing, compared to an hour for a wallet or purse," according to Synchronica. As a result, victims should be able to hear their phones scream out for them.
Devices don't have to be lost or stolen to expose sensitive data. Engineers at McLean, Va.-based Trust Digital, another mobile-security company, recently bought 10 smart phones on eBay and were able to recover 24,000 pages of data from nine of the gadgets, some of which were sold by employees of major corporations. The same kind of test is often done on used hard-disk drives.
"The salvaged data included everything from personal banking and tax information to corporate sales activity notes to even former corporate client records, product roadmaps, contact address books, computer passwords, and other private, competitive and highly damaging material," according to a Trust Digital e-mail sent Tuesday. The company plans to announce its findings on Wednesday.
Synchronica sells its Mobile Manager product to operators and businesses. The product works with Windows Mobile 2003, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile 5. Support for Symbian is underway. Trust Digital's Mobile Edge product has similar features, though its Web site doesn't list a "scream" feature.
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But it's bad because in the AP article on Trust Digital's site there is no mention of a solution to completely erase the contents. This sucks.
I've got a phone I can easily get $100 for, but I won't sell it if I can't securely erase the contents.
Well, you get the idea.
Regardless, the scream/lock can be defeated by simply pulling the battery... When powered back on, the theif simply needs to make sure the phone never hears from the carrier again, which would require simply going to a dead zone.
A [i]mobile[/i] phone is a telephone. :| A telephone is [b][u]JUST THAT!!![/u][/b] I don't use my cell phone for ANYTHING but a phone cuz THAT is what it [b][u]IS!!![/u][/b] :)
If you don't want sensitive personal info able to be easily retrieved, do [b]NOT[/b] put it on an electronic/mobile device of ANY kind. DUH-UH!!!!!! :| If you do, you're a "Dee-Dee-Dee"! (ever hear of latin comedian Carlos Mencia???)
If you don't want your hard drive [i]mined[/i] after you no longer want/need it, then [b]DESTROY[/b] the thing in a way that it will [u]never ever[/u] be readable again. A plasma cutter comes to mind. ]:) ;)
So, KISS ...muwah!!! :D
Wait, don't they actually have those?
Blast!
8)
In Hong Kong, a high profile business man who lost his cellular phone with video of his movie star wife taking a shower. The taxi driver that found the phone apparently tried to blackmail him, and ended up posting the video on the 'net.
With camera phones all over the place and drafts of documents being sent between blackberries all the time, I'm sure everyone has something on their phone, blackberry, or wireless PDA that would best be kept personal.
A new product that is currently in beta, but looks like an outstanding tool, is the Mbience Security Suite (http://www.mbiencegroup.com/).
It offers syncronisation (S-Sync), encryption, and most importantly, the ability to destroy remotely the contents of the device if it is lost (Q-Switch). Once the critical info (like mobile wallet info) is destroyed their L-Report function will report the loss to the credit card company or IT security group.
It looks like a comprehensive solution, and worth taking a look at.