Around 23,000 devices go missing every month, finds Kaspersky Lab

The holiday season is upon us, and that means that millions of people are getting ready for a trip abroad. And while they are on holiday, many will be taking the opportunity to capture precious memories of their time away. In fact, according to Kaspersky Lab’s consumer research, one-in-five (18%) say photos and videos of their travel are the most important forms of data on their devices, with this type of data trumping all others. However, in additional research by the company, 28% said that if they lost their devices, or had them stolen, they would never be able to replace those precious holiday photos.

According to Kaspersky Lab stats*, the company’s Anti-Theft feature in its Kaspersky Internet Security for Android product is launched an astounding 1.5 times every minute on average, and an average 23,000 Android devices are being reported lost or stolen a month. With photos of travel being rated the most important to users, out of all other data stored on their devices, Kaspersky Lab is today warning people to treat their precious holiday snaps with care, by properly protecting the devices they are captured and stored on across the summer season. Otherwise, their photos may join the ranks of the lost and stolen.

Another study** by Kaspersky Lab has shown that overall, four percent of people around the world have lost a device or had one stolen. What’s more, for over half (57%) of those people, it’s Android devices that were affected, followed by laptop computers (29%) and Apple iPhones (21%). Worryingly for consumers, on average a lost or stolen device can cost $485 to replace.

With simple and effective anti-theft tools available, consumers now have the chance to turn on their device’s alarm if it gets lost, lock and locate their device remotely, or even take a secret mugshot of the culprit if their device has been stolen. Yet despite the risks, and the availability of these security options, Kaspersky Lab research shows that only 22% are currently taking advantage of anti-theft features to help protect their devices.

Dmitry Aleshin, VP for Product Marketing, Kaspersky Lab said, “These figures indicate the scale at which devices are going missing – especially as the 23,000 figure only tells us about Android devices with the Kaspersky Lab Anti-Theft feature switched on! At this time of year, it’s important to consider how to safeguard devices from danger. With Anti-Theft protection being so simple to use and so easily available, our advice to all users is to consider protecting their devices and to have a safe and secure summer.”

Kaspersky Lab’s Anti-Theft feature in Kaspersky Internet Security for Android prevents a user’s data from being accessed should their device be lost or stolen. It does this by, for example, allowing a user to lock and locate a device remotely if it’s lost, turn on their device’s alarm even if the sound is switched to silent mode, and more.

*Figures calculated based on the number of Anti-Theft commands sent by users of Kaspersky Internet Security for Android, from 13 June till 12 July 2018.

**The study was conducted online by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International in January, 2018. 17,418 users from 31 countries were surveyed. Data was weighted to be globally representative and consistent. The global data excludes findings from China.