One-third of techies don't use passwords

One-third of information technology professionals using smart phones and personal digital assistants (PDA) don't use passwords or any other security measure to safeguard the data they store.

A survey by Pointsec Mobile Technologies and SC Magazine reveals that one-tenth of these users stored their Personal Identification Number (PIN), important passwords and corporate information on such mobile devices.

According to the survey, corporate personnel store a large amount of corporate data on their mobile devices including customer contacts, e-mail details, passwords and bank account details, as well as personal and private information and personal images without much consideration for security in case the device is lost or stolen.

While users paid little heed to security of data, many were concerned that losing their device would cost them money and that they would lose "everything" as they hadn't backed up such information. Others were saddened that when they lost their mobile device, they also lost photos and video clips.

Forgetting the mobile device in a taxi or leaving it on the airport or train continued to be the most common way of losing a mobile device as per the survey.

Only 40 per cent of the people chose to report cases of loss or theft to the police as the rest did not believe that there was anything the police could do or even thought that it would cost more to report the matter than to replace the device, the survey said.