I 'm curious what you guys Jason Howell Gina Trapani Ron Richards and the community thinks

[G+_Joseph Hurtsellers]

I'm curious what you guys Jason Howell Gina Trapani Ron Richards and the community thinks. I've been using Android forever and I NEVER use a lock screen. My rational is I've been carrying a wallet for 30 years; it's got my Credit Cards, Drivers Liscence and SS Card - not to mention my Cash. If I lose my wallet  there's no wiping it, and my cash is gone. I've never had a lock on my wallet; why have a lock on my phone? What say you?

[G+_Joe Phelps]

Joseph Hurtsellers 1) With your wallet, it was only your data. With your phone, it has your friend's data available as well. You have a responsibility to protect other's personal data. 2) If someone gets your phone which has your email on it, they can wreak havoc with your life.

[G+_Mark Scholes]

Personal data is only valuable because companies use it for ID

[G+_Jason Howell (raygun01)]

Joseph Hurtsellers I'd say whatever works for you, do it. Just understand that IF that day finally comes, you will feel insecure. But it may never come, at which time, yay! But it may, at which time .

[G+_Joseph Hurtsellers]

Nice points everyone - I think the thing for me is I'm so in love with my device that it NEVER gets out of my site for more than a minute or two. (My wife on the other hand is always leaving hers laying around and losing it - so as Jason Howell maybe it is case by case). I can't even imagine misplacing my phone EVER.

[G+_Joe Phelps]

Joseph Hurtsellers Until it happens.

[G+_Mark Scholes]

As long as you use a different email to sign up for everything, otherwise I can reset all your account passwords

[G+_Tom Gehrke]

That's actually a good point and I'm surprised I've never heard it put that way before.

 

However...

 

Wallets represent the old, analog world. Some gets as much cash as I'm carrying on me at the moment, my driver's license, credit cards, etc. The damage they would have done is slowed and limited because you're only dealing with what you can fit in a wallet and that's usually regulated by only taking what you feel you really need.

 

Phones, on the other hand, are not just those physical things (although they are becoming that -- see Google Wallet), but they are gateways to everything. You're not even limited to what you can keep on your phone since you may be storing some portion of your data "in the cloud".

 

Granted, this depends on how tech savvy/comfortable an individual may be.

 

Let's look at correspondence. You wouldn't pack mail into your wallet, but in/through your phone you've got every personal, business-related, confidential email you've ever sent or received. If you use Gmail it's all nicely indexed and searchable too. ;)

 

Pictures. In your wallet you might have a few. On/through your phone you'll have everything taken by your phone (something your wallet couldn't do) as well as anything you've put online. You know that thing you did at that wild party that might end your political career before it starts? Yeah. You probably don't want that getting out. Or on a much more serious note, photos of children that... well... I'll just leave that there.

 

Documents. Could be something legal. Could be that novel/screenplay you're just about ready to sell. Ideas for that next big thing that will make you a gajillionaire.

 

Relationships. As has been pointed out already, people have a responsibility to also protect the data of people we deal with daily. Aside from that, you've got a list of people who are potential targets for future scams. Probably realistic scams depending on what going through your email digs up.

 

Access. My phone is the key to quite a bit of sensitive data that's not my own. Two-factor authentication keys. Bank apps. Travel apps. Shopping apps.

 

And so on...

 

The sheer scope of what's available on or through your phone is orders of magnitude greater than what is in your wallet. That means that the list of things you have to do to mitigate the loss of your phone is orders of magnitude greater than if you'd lost your wallet. With your wallet you'll cancel a few cards and have your bank watch for suspicious activity. With your phone you'll be wracking your brain for weeks wondering if you covered everything.

 

Of course, I might be overreacting. But... I've seen things, man... ;)

 

This will apply to different people at different levels. Maybe your phone's data and access is pretty benign. If you're comfortable without a lock, I'm not gonna tell you otherwise.

 

Too much?  :)

[G+_Mark Scholes]

Pity it's only protected by a pattern I can probably make out in the smudges on the screen, should get a fingerprint reader

[G+_Joe Phelps]

Holly M. Paddock I wonder how fast you can get passwords changed? If you out somewhere and far from home, it could really take a while. Folks that steal phones & credit cards and stuff these days, are really quick about using the data that they have.

[G+_Martin Patterson]

My wallet can't rack up a huge bill calling international numbers.

[G+_Tom Gehrke]

Holly M. Paddock Changing your Gmail password (assuming you do it quickly enough) would help. But that's just one item on the list of things to do. How many email accounts does one have? Is that enough to keep someone out of something like Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc.?

 

Wiping the device should be high up on the list too.

 

These aren't necessarily difficult things to do, but consider timing. How much time has gone by before you realize that you don't have your phone? Then how much time before you decide that you're not going to get your phone back anytime soon (the "did I just leave it somewhere or was it taken" question). By then someone has pulled the battery or put the phone in a signal-proof box until they can get all forensic at their leisure.

[G+_Christopher Best]

Joseph Hurtsellers until recently I had the misfortune of living in the People's Republic of New Jersey, where the Supreme Court decided (perhaps rightly so), that if there was nothing  to tell someone they weren't allowed to access your computing device, then they couldn't be charged for doing so. This, naturally, extended to searches by law enforcement: If the device wasn't secured, they didn't need a warrant to search it. You'd better believe my phone had a PIN lock on it.

 

If someone stole your wallet you were out the cash, and you'd have to deal with your credit card's fraud department.

 

If someone got control of my phone, they'd effectively be stealing my life, as well as everything my friends and family have trusted me with. I can't imagine being so irresponsible as to not provide the most basic level of access control.

 

Locking my front door doesn't prevent a determined thief or attacker, but it does provide clear proof that someone entering that way is trespassing...

[G+_Zulhaimi Abdul Hamid]

I use lock screen to stop my phone from accidentally calling people in my pocket. It happened many times when I dont use lockscreen. ?

[G+_Chad Stieb]

I've never locked my phone either, but I have an app that allows me to require a PIN on individual apps that I use.

[G+_Matthew Holtzem]

I don't lock my phone mostly because I want other people be able to use it if they want. (People I know of course)

[G+_Joe Phelps]

Matthew Holtzem It would be cool to have a way for multiple users to have separate identifiers so the phone could still be locked and unlocked without sharing passwords. I wonder if a fingerpr...oh wait...nevermind.

[G+_Georg Rooss]

Your wallet comparison isn't working so well. Your phone is more like a brief case where you also have little notes with your credit card pin-code and passwords e.g. for your online bank account, your little telefon book with all the data of your friends, your diary and many others personal stuff and private letters. With all the data on your phone a thief/hacker could be able to change passwords and lock you out of your own accounts before you even realised that you lost your phone. 

Of course you could, like someone mentioned before, secure all your Apps with passwords but I rather have a secure lock screen then typing my password every time I open an App.

[G+_Joseph Hurtsellers]

Thanks for the discussion everyone, and Georg Rooss, Christopher Best, Tom Gehrke and so many others.

 

I do agree my strategy is risky compared to some. It would be devastating to lose my account, but I do touch my phone hundreds of times every day. I use it for almost everything (except when I'm sitting in front of my PC). I do keep Cerberus on my device; but that would be my last plan of defense. I feel like (for me) my eyes and mindfulness are my best plan of security.

I guess I understand the idea of a lock screen or pass code to simply DELAY a thief in the event my phone is gone - giving me time to get to a PC and wipe. 

But for me (and this is just me) I think my phone is more secure than most - precisely because it IS so important to me. Again, to each there own - but I definitely think there does need to be more work done in this area. 

 

There are MANY other things in life that matter to us that DO NOT have lock screens - and for hundreds of years we've gotten along just fine by watching them ourselves . For me it's worth the risk with my phone; for others maybe not.