New Year will bring merriment to Hackers

Hackers, opportunists, extortionists and thieves will be rubbing their hands in glee come the New Year as record numbers of ëhandheldsí will be sold over the Christmas period and consequently lost or stolen in the coming year. A warning is being sent out to the business community today by Pointsec, specialists in mobile security, to take action over the security of mobile devices and handhelds, as many of these devices although personal will inevitably be used for corporate purposes. If lost and in the wrong hands could seriously jeopardise a company by exposing them to a whole episode of exploits.

Whatever device you carry whether it is a handheld, mobile phone, laptop, iPod or thumb drive, it seems that it will only be a matter of time before you lose it. Well, thatís according to recent statistics which shows that commuters are notoriously absentminded as huge numbers of mobile devices are lost in the back of taxis, tubes, restaurants or airports. A survey released this month by Pointsec showed that 54,874 mobile phones, 4,718 handhelds or Pocket PCs, 3,179 laptops and 923 USB sticks/thumb drives have been left in the back of London licensed taxis in the last 6 months. Airports prove to be just as bad with around 730 laptops and 1460 mobile phones left at Heathrow airport in the past year.

If luck is on your side, then your device could be found by someone who is only interested in the device alone and not in what data the device stores. However, thieves are becoming smarter these days and are more interested in what data the device holds rather than the device itself, so that they can, hack into your company, bribe your employers or even steal your identity.

Storage on the recent generation of mobiles is now up to 4Gbs of memory, which is the equivalent of storing data inside 9 filing cabinets and being able to keep over a 1m emails on your person. Itís therefore a tempting and convenient replacement to the office, all in the palm of your hand, where users are happy to store a host of personal and business data including customer and personal names and addresses, pictures, insurance details, bank account and credit card information, NI numbers, and other highly sensitive data, making it even more important to secure the data, in the event that the device is lost.

What should be of concern to companies is that most people choose to avoid using any security on them, unless it is made mandatory. Peter Larsson ñ CEO of Pointsec suggests ìYou should seriously back up all the information on your mobile device. Stop for a minute and think about the consequences of losing your mobile device. What ramifications would it have to you, your family and friends, your colleagues, customers and company if your data fell into the wrong hands? If this question bothers you, then you can simply make use of the security functions on the device or encrypt it so that no-one but yourself can access the information.î

The message to all businesses is clear; if you do not secure your employees mobile devices you are putting your company at risk. You need to assess your exposure and then decide how to reduce it. Take action now; or be prepared to give hackers, exploiters, extortionists and thieves a very merry New Year.