Thousands of Mobile Devices Left at Airports
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According to telephone interviews with the lost property offices of 15 airports, including Heathrow and Luton, thousands of mobile phones and laptops have been left behind last year, with the majority still unclaimed and many left over the Christmas holiday peak season. This figure is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg as it does not take into account all those devices that were stolen, or kept by the lucky finder.
The survey, carried out by Credant Technologies, also found that in the majority of cases, those devices that arent reclaimed are then either sold at auction or donated to charities. However the fact is that these devices may still contain information that could be available for the new owner! With ID theft from mobile phones and other lost devices at an all-time high, users should really take special care when travelling.
According to a representative at Luton Airport, the most common place devices are forgotten is at the security check point as its a very pressured environment with numerous distractions. Often, once the travelers have boarded the plane and left the country its just too expensive to return for the device, which in most instances will be covered by insurance, resulting in the majority going unclaimed.
But the devices value is the last thing organizations should be worrying about, explains Sen Glynn, VP at Credant Technologies, What is much more concerning are the copious volumes of sensitive data these devices contain often unsecured and easily accessed. Without protecting mobile phones, laptops and even USBs with something even as basic as a password, a malicious third party can have easy access to the corporate network, email accounts and all the files stored on the device including the contact lists. Users also store such things as passwords, bank details and other personal information on the device making it childs play to impersonate the user and steal their identity both personal and corporate.
Seven Top Tips To Secure Travel
1.As you leave - whether its the check-in desk, security check point, or even the train station, make sure you take everything with you, including your mobile devices. A few seconds to check could potentially save you hours of frustration and embarrassment.
2.Protect your mobile device: with at least a password (and ensure that it is a strong one, containing letters, numbers and symbols). Better still, use an encryption solution so that even if your device is left behind, the data on it is not accessible to anyone who finds it.
3.Dont elect to automatically complete online credentials, such as corporate network log in details, so that if you and your device should become separated, it cannot operate without you.
4.Back-up your device and remove any sensitive information that you do not need. If its not there it cant be breached.
5.As in tip 4, remove SMS and emails that you dont need anymore - youd be surprised how many people keep their default password emails on their mobiles and other hugely sensitive information like PINs, bank account details or passwords!
6.Don't leave your mobile device open to access (e.g. leaving Bluetooth or WiFi turned on) somewhere visible and unsecured.
7.Include your name and contact details in the device so that, if it should be lost, it can easily be returned to you. Some operators have a registration service to facilitate this.
Finally, speak to your IT department before you leave the office this year thats what theyre there for. Theyll help make sure your device is better protected should it find itself languishing all alone at the airport.
http://www.discoverytrainingcenter.com/content/article-thousands-mobile-devices-left-airports
HTTPS for Facebook
Facebook just rolled out https:...I would highly suggest everyone switch over to this. Especially if you are using Facebook over unsecure WiFi networks.
1.Login to your Facebook account.
2.On the upper-right side of your profile, click the Account link.
3.From the drop down menu, select Account Settings.
4.Under Account Security, click the Change link.
5.You should be now able to see the Account Security Section.
6.Tick the Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible checkbox.
7.Click Save.
8.Next time you will login to your Facebook profile you should get the secure SSL webpage. To check if you have got such security page, simply have a look the your browser Web address field. If the Facebook webpage contains HTTPS your connection will be secure!
As opposed to HTTP URLs that begin with "http://" and use port 80 by default, HTTPS URLs begin with "https://" and use port 443 by default. HTTP is unsecured and is subject to man-in-the-middle and eavesdropping attacks, which can let attackers gain access to website accounts and sensitive information. HTTPS is designed to withstand such attacks and is considered secure against such attacks (with the exception of older deprecated versions of SSL).
HTTPS connections are often used for payment transactions on the World Wide Web and for sensitive transactions in corporate information systems.