Every second Indian has lost his or her
cellphone at some point, a new survey has found.
In a country of 1.19 billion people, about 771 million use mobile phones. And 53 per cent of this population has fallen victim to mobile phone loss or theft, says Internet security provider Norton.
With smarter and cheaper cellphones becoming a necessity rather than a luxury, concern for data security and fear of data loss has also intensified. However, despite such concerns only two out of five adults have password protection for their mobile device, the Norton study says.
With more than 70 per cent citing the loss of their contacts as the biggest headache, the finding that more than half of the victims were willing to pay a ransom (an average of Rs 3,692) to resolve the situation, comes as no surprise.
However, in reality victims end up paying nearly three times that amount (about Rs 9,957) to resolve the situation. Despite this, almost three in 10 Indians said the situation was never resolved and in cases where it was resolved, 12 per cent said that it took more than a week.
"The need for mobile protection is increasingly important with Indians having their phones lost/stolen an average of 1.5 times over the past five years," the survey says.
The survey reveals that data security and data loss are the biggest concerns among cellphone users.
"Of the affected Indians, one in two was concerned about the exposure or loss of private information, with a whopping 74 per cent noting that they could neither remotely lock nor wipe the phone's memory after it was lost or stolen," the survey adds.
Almost 82 per cent people found the process of resolving the situation difficult and 90 per cent said the experience was stressful.
On the whole, a significant number of Indians consider security factors before buying a mobile phone.
"Eighty per cent of adults agreed that services such as locking, wiping and locating phones remotely are important and the same percentage is likely to purchase software providing such a service," the study reveals.
Six out of ten Indians are comfortable with using software on their phones to identify the location of the device. A similar number of users are comfortable with online banking.
With cellphones becoming such a central device in the lives of consumers, the need for protecting these devices has gained importance.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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