Following from my last post about the Mobile Security Challenge launched in the UK, check out these interesting (and in some cases alarming) stats about Mobiles:
1. 4 billion mobile phones are in operation worldwide (source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE51A2I820090211)
2. There are twice as many mobile phones as credit cards in the world (source: http://www.gizmag.com/orange-near-field-mobile-phone-payment/11216/ )
3. There are 70 million mobile handsets in the UK, of which 4.2 million are vulnerable to ID theft. (source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/newslog/UK+Market+Tops+70+Million+Vodafone+Leads+Subscriber+Growth.aspx )
4. 80% of mobile phones contain enough data to commit identity fraud (source: http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2009/03/18/phone-data-makes-42-million-brits-vulnerable-to-id-theft/ )
5. 40% of users have no password or PIN securing their phone. (source: http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2009/03/18/phone-data-makes-42-million-brits-vulnerable-to-id-theft/ )
6. In the UK 16% of people carry their bank details and 24% carry their passwords and pin numbers on their phones (source: http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2009/03/20/brits-naive-about-mobile-phone-security/ )
7. In 2006, two per cent of mobile users, 800,000 people, were victims of phone theft, (source: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/statistics/statistics065.htm )
8. TFL and O2 have already teamed up to combine Oyster cards and mobiles with swipable phones – and 85% liked the system. (source: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/6592.aspx )
9. German supermarkets have introduced a barcode scanning system enabling shoppers to store their shopping list in their phone and speed up time at the checkout. (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7476672.stm)
10. Japanese phone giant NTT DoCoMo is set to launch a new mobile phone feature making house keys, and cash, redundant. (source: http://www.techjapan.com/Article674.html)
Wowzer! When you look at the combination of volume of targetable devices, and the info on-board them, no wonder they are such a hot (and unsecured) commodity! PIN-code your moby now methinks!