While most people are aware of the potential security implications of lost or stolen laptops, the vulnerability of handheld mobile devices, however, is not classed as such high risk, it is claimed.
Small, easy to use PDAs and mobile email handsets are increasingly the gadget of choice for mobile workers, many of which are networked, connected to the company email and contain a wealth of important contacts and data files.
IT departments are squaring up to the challenge posed by used losing these devices or having them stolen, but a recent report suggests that they regard users as the weakest link, and the hardest challenge is to establish the right attitude and behaviour, to prevent carelessness. So say the makers of the TRACKITBACK service.
What they say
"TRACKITBACK can help protect against loss of PDAs and otherheld devices, as well as laptops, to give users a second, third, fourth … chance to return their ‘lost’ gadgets to them. Organisations serious about security should consider offering TRACKITBACK to every single employee roaming with such devices. It can’t grantee the return of every single device, all of the time, but without it, there is little hope of ever seeing these devices ever again,says Wayne Chodosh, CEO of Trackitback UK.
TRACKITBACK is re-uniting gadgets with their owners, the firm says. One user, Bob Carson, CEO of Education without Boundaries, was re-united with his PDA en route from Canada to Cannes. The PDA was found in Heathrow Airport, thankfully by an honest passer-by, who reported it missing to TRACKITBACK. Mr Carson was re-united with his PDA in Cannes less than 24 hours later. "Every manufacturer of phones, cameras, notebooks and PDAs should engrave a TRACKITBACK ID on new devices," he says.
How it works
Users register for the service online where it costs £9.85 per registration.
