IT professionals would rather lose the contents of their wallet than lose their phone – yet many have no secure protection on their devices, a survey by SecurEnvoy suggests.
A survey asking IT professionals what they would most fear losing out of their back pockets revealed that the loss of a phone is of greatest concern.
Combining the results for personal phones (37pc) and company phones (20pc), we see that more than half of respondents would rather not be parted with their precious devices, while a quarter would hate to see a stg£50 note do a hop and just 18pc said lost credit cards were their biggest fear.
Precious phones
The SecurEnvoy study follows previous research in January, which found that two-thirds of respondents feared losing their mobile phones. In fact, these users were so worried about losing a phone that 41pc kept a second device – just in case.
“This study really highlights just how high a value we place on (mobile phones),” said Andy Kemshall, CTO and co-founder of SecurEnvoy. “As functionality increases on devices, so too will our dependence on them – we can already use them for so much more than talking.”
Loss of communication, or loss of data?
While it could be that some of these people are suffering from nomophobia (the fear of being out of mobile contact), the security implications of a lost phone and the data stored on there can’t be ignored.
However, the January study also revealed that 46pc of mobile phone users do not use any kind of protection to secure their devices. “Perhaps it’s time we showed these little devices just how much we love them and secure them,” said Kemshall.
