Men lose more mobile phones

F-Secure has revealed the findings of its F-Secure 2010 Australian Mobile Security Survey. Quizzing more than 1000 Australians, F-Secure found that a third (32%) of respondents had lost a phone or had one stolen. Men appeared more careless than women, with 39% experiencing loss, versus just 26% of women.

The age group 18-24 was the most likely to have experienced loss or theft with 51%. Residents of Tasmania were the least likely to be affected with 20%, and the ACT had the highest rate of incidents with 45%. The majority of incidents happened in a taxi or on public transport (28%), followed by holidays (18%) and pubs/bars (13%).

Surprisingly, women were more likely to part ways with their phone in a bar/pub (w 17% vs m 10%) and on holidays (w 20% vs m 16%), whereas men were slightly more likely to lose their mobile in a taxi/on public transport (w 26% vs m 28%) and at the gym (w 1% vs m 4%).

As more and more Australians invest in expensive, fashionable smartphones, such as the iPhone, HTC Touch Diamond, or Nokia N97 to name just a few, experts are calling for better loss and theft protection. Today’s mobile phones are capable of storing a lot of valuable information, which can be used for malicious purposes if the phone falls into the wrong hands.

Indi Siriniwasa, Regional Director of F-Secure Australia and New Zealand, says, “Mobile phones can be easily lost or stolen, so it is important to be able to remotely locate, protect and control the device. Users should be able to remotely lock their phones, wipe the content and, in some cases, even find the phone’s location.

“Many people today, either knowingly or unknowingly, carry a lot of sensitive information on their phones, be it names and addresses, pictures or business information. The last thing you want is for this to fall into the wrong hands.”

The F-Secure 2010 Australian Mobile Security Survey was conducted by Pure Profile in March 2010. The survey queried 1001 Australian residents on their experiences with mobile loss and theft.