Our Blog, June, 2008

Smartphones are a bigger risk than laptops

Computerworld reports that smartphones are a bigger threat to security than laptops.

The key issue is that users and IT managers dont seem to be worried about the data carried around on a smartphone and are not taking any steps to solve the perceived problem.

“A key danger with PDAs was that over half of IT executives surveyed were “not bothering” to enter a password when they used their phone.
Nine in 10 of the smart phones were being given access to company networks without extra security, even though the phones were individually owned by users. There were no access restrictions being applied to 81% of the phones.”

The tidal wave of data breaches on laptops will be replicated around the corner with smartphones.

Style over free in mobile market

An interesting study by JD Power has identified a trend away from taking free basic phones towards paying extra for smartphone functionality. Style was the most important factor (41%) , followed by free (25%) and ease of use (23%).

In a seperate survey by Rubicon Consulting 24% of iPhone buyers upgraded from a basic Motorola Razr. The Razr was see as a very stylish phone and this style conscious purchasers are moving in droves to the iPhone.

Getting phones for free is still a major part of the mobile landscape but consumers are prepared to pay for devices and applications and functionality that they desire.

Rogue Smartphone – what to do !!

Interesting article about the potential impact of Rogue Devices in an enterprise. Most of the rogue devices are bought by employees on their own , as they want to get better functionality from their device.

Here is the to do list:

1. VPNs
2. Block public wifi access
3. Strong passwords
4. Block removable storage
5. Educate Employees
6. Educate IT
7. Device Encryption

Phone research shows people dont stray far from home

An interesting piece of mobility research reported in The Register – they tracked 100,000 mobile phone users to see how far people moved over a period of time. Most people dont stray further than a few miles from home for most of the time( 67%). 2-3% people travel further than 100 miles every week. The research was done outside the USA but is has caused a bit of a kafuffle re privacy issues.

Alton Towers Bans PDAs

To stop Crackberry addicts runing a good family day out , Alton Towers have banned PDAS. They have new PDA police roaming the Uk based Disneyland type theme park looking for edgy types sneaking a look at their smartphone while encouraging little Timmy to risk his life on the Antigravitator or the Vomitorium ( I am a girls blouse with these type of rides).

How busy are we all that we have to be forced to ditch the PDA for a few hours – there are only so many brain surgeons that need to be 100% contactable.

1 million prepaid customers cut off in Bangladesh

A major global issue re anonymous phone users has driven the powers that be in Bangladesh to cut off 1 million prepaid phone users.

Users were given a deadline to register their phones and 1 million didnt so they are closed down. I spoke to the UK police on this issue and it became a real possibility that prepaid users would have to pre-register due to the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London. This has not happened to date.