The results of a survey released this week reveal that people would prefer to lose the contents of their wallets than their mobile phones. The study asked what people would most fear losing from their back pocket – 37% said their ‘personal phone’; 20% their ‘company phone’; 25% said ‘£50’; with just 18% citing ‘credit cards’.
The study, sponsored by SecurEnvoy, follows on from its previous research in January. Back then, the global leader of ‘tokenless’ two-factor authentication found that two thirds of respondents feared losing their mobile phone. So great was this worry that 41% had two phones or more in an effort to stay connected. This latest study is further confirmation that, as a nation, we’re not only increasingly attached to our phones, but that we’re also gripped by nomophobia – the fear of being out of mobile contact.
An increasing mobile phone addiction has meant laws have had to be introduced to curtail their use. While the use of handsets when behind the wheel of a vehicle has been illegal for a number of years, in America this has recently been extended to pedestrians. Officials in the state of New Jersey will hand out ‘jaywalking’ citations to anyone caught ‘texting’ while walking along the sidewalk or crossing the road. The move follows three fatalities from this practice. Will the rest of the US and the world follow suit?
Andy Kemshall, CTO and co-founder of SecurEnvoy explains: “The mobile phone really has revolutionised the way we keep in touch – both in our personal lives and business lives. And this study really highlights just how high a value we place on them, especially with so many preferring to lose a relatively significant amount of money to their phone. As functionality increases on devices, so too will our dependence on them – we can already use them for so much more than talking. With that in mind, using a mobile phone as your authentication token seems a natural choice and far more convenient than carrying an old fashioned style hardware. The study we conducted in January found 46% do not use any protection at all. Perhaps it’s time we showed these little devices just how much we love them and secure them.”
