Three-quarters of smartphones in use in the UK are not programmed with a security password – that’s the finding of www.gadget-cover.com, mobile phone and electronic gadget insurance provider.
Gadget-Cover asked 600 customers whether they locked their phone with a password, and the vast majority said no – meaning personal details, banking passwords and other sensitive information and content such as photos could be viewed or snatched.
“Around 10% of people will keep banking or financial passwords on their phones, but around a quarter also store ‘racey’ photos of themselves or their partners on their phones,” said Carmi Korine of www.gadget-cover.com.
“Our research indicates that something like 65% of people finding a lost mobile phone will try to access photos, about a third will try to access banking information – but around half of all mobile phones lost will find their way back to their owners.
“We asked a cross-section of people why they didn’t use a password, and those who didn’t programme a security password gave reasons varying from ‘they didn’t know how’, to ‘what if somebody wanted to try to return the phone but it was locked?’
“Many said that they used their phones so frequently that it was a nuisance having to type in a password every few minutes – but we’d urge people to think very carefully about what they have stored on their phones, whether frequently visited banking sites or racey pictures of themselves or friends, and how they’d feel if that information fell into the hands of one of the 65% of people who try to access information on phones found in cabs, on busses or tables in bars and cafes….”
Gadget-Cover is part of Supercover Insurance, insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.
