It looks like London thieves are walking away with a gold medal in cell phone theft. 67,000 phones are expected to be stolen at the London Olympics, 40% of which will be smartphones[1]. The average American has 80 contacts, 350 photos and 65 apps on their phone. In our security quiz we discovered that 42% of respondents did not utilize a passcode lock, giving the thieves access to all of the personal or even professional data stored therein. Personal and professional contacts, photographs, bank info, e-mail history and text message history all unprotected, resulting in financial loss, personal embarrassment and, in some cases, identity theft.

For the 58% who do have a passcode lock make sure it is not one of the most common patterns or numerical combinations (for more details see our security quiz). Passcode combinations alone are not sufficient to protect your individual data sets. Protect your text messages with free software: Uppidy provides a secure intermediary to store your text messages. It is searchable, free, and can be organized by topic or group. In conjunction with Armortext, which encrypts your text messages both on the phone and in transit, your SMS messages, with all of the precious information, personal data (bank routing numbers, social security number), and private conversations are protected on your phone, in transit by encryption, and by passcode in case your phone is stolen.

For other security suggestions (does you phone have a passcode on it yet?)  and the results of our quiz, head here.

Secure messaging with Gryphn’s app:

“Go from unsure to secure in 60 seconds or less — with the ‘year’s most innovative startup for national security‘