What Happens When Your Smart Phone Is Stolen (Video)

Laughing Squid: Dutch Filmmaker Intentionally Lets His Phone Get Stolen In Order to Follow Its Path Through Spyware

Dutch filmmaker Anthony van der Meer decided to intentionally allow a thief to steal his mobile phone in order to find out what happens afterwards, using spyware that he installed ahead of time. The resulting film, entitled “Find my Phone” shows how just much information a thief can get with someone else’s phone.

In the Netherlands, 300 police reports a week are filed for smartphone-theft. Besides losing your expensive device, a stranger has access to all of your photos, videos, e-mails, messages and contacts. Yet, what kind of person steals a phone? And where do stolen phones eventually end up? The short documentary ‘Find My Phone’ follows a stolen phone’s second life by means of using spyware.

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CSN Editor: I can deal with losing my phone. But losing my photos, videos, and other personal information ... that is where it really hurts.

Drones Can Now Search For Smart Phones That Are Not Secured

This Drone Can Steal What's On Your Phone -- CNN

The next threat to your privacy could be hovering over head while you walk down the street.

Hackers have developed a drone that can steal the contents of your smartphone -- from your location data to your Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) password -- and they've been testing it out in the skies of London. The research will be presented next week at the Black Hat Asia cybersecurity conference in Singapore.

The technology equipped on the drone, known as Snoopy, looks for mobile devices with Wi-Fi settings turned on.

Snoopy takes advantage of a feature built into all smartphones and tablets: When mobile devices try to connect to the Internet, they look for networks they've accessed in the past.

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My Comment: More evidence that our private lives are not really private.

Coming Soon To The Defense Department: Android-Based Smart Phones And Tablets Capable Of Handling Classified Information

The Pentagon Is Expanding Its Smartphone For Spies Program -- Foreign Policy

While the rest of the DC press corps is talking about Chuck Hagel's qualifications to be the next defense secretary, Killer Apps is lucky enough to be writing about smart phones. Secret smart phones, that is.

That's right, the National Security Agency and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are set to expand the program that gives government officials Android-based smart phones and tablets capable of handling classified information.  

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My Comment: The Pentagon is so far behind the curve on this one .... but at least they are catching up.

Smartphone Sales To Hit 1bn A Year

Despite soaring sales of smartphones, research suggests one in five owners will rarely, if ever, use them to access the internet. Photograph: Lee Jae-Won/Reuters 

Smartphone Sales To Hit 1bn A Year For First Time In 2013 -- The Guardian  

Accountant Deloitte predicts the smartphone will become a mass market phenomenon and an everyday object worldwide.

The smartphone is predicted to become a mass market phenomenon this year, with annual shipments soaring to 1bn globally for the first time, although a fifth of the devices will rarely be used to go online.

In 2013 the smartphone will become an everyday object worldwide, according to a study by accountants Deloitte, bringing the number of active phones with either a touch screen or an alphabet keyboard to 2bn by the end of the year.

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My Comment: It's easy to see the day when almost everyone has a smart phone .... and the cost of communicating will be almost free.