Protecting Content From Device Theft

NYT has a story on the fact that small, portable devices are easy to steal and fence. “For companies whose employees carry sensitive digital information, the gadget itself is relatively disposable. It is the information that needs protection.” To combat this it talks about companies that “produce software that protects information on laptops and devices like smart phones by either encrypting the data, locking the device or remotely wiping out everything on it”. The thing is, this won’t stay in the realm of companies for very long… I’m sure everyone remembers the hacking of Paris Hilton’s Sidekick II, and the subsequent rash of b-grade celebrities who seemed to have their Sidekick “hacked” soon after taking a lot of inspiring pictures of themselves… assuming they weren’t specifically seeking publicity they would have appreciated some sort of guard on their content. And a lot of other people will too… as phones become more powerful and people store increasingly personal content on there — such as credit cards, diary entries, multiplayer game accounts, intimate messages and so on — some will see a need to prevent that being viewed by strangers in the event their mobile is stolen.

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