SAN FRANCISCO, March 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prey Inc., provider of the cross-platform, open source anti-theft software that protects more than eight million mobile devices, today announced the results of the inaugural Prey Mobile Theft & Loss Report, which found that misplaced devices were responsible for the vast majority – 69 percent – of all devices reported missing in 2018. Ultimately, the Prey survey determined that mobile device owners are a greater threat to their devices than are thieves and that, when if comes to device theft, the most comfortable and familiar places, such as offices, homes or schools, can be the least safe.
Prey has compiled the survey information in a free report, the Prey Mobile Theft & Loss Report, which is available for download here.
Drilling down into the data, Prey sorted all theft or loss stories into six categories: Misplaced (69.12%), Pickpocket (10.98%), Home Invasion (7.60%), Armed Robbery (6.76%), Car Break-in (2.77%), and Business Break-in (2.77%). While home invasion, business break-in and car break-in were excluded due to the certainty of their location, the report then breaks down the most likely locations for misplaced, pickpocketed or robbed devices. with:
- Misplaced: home (28.10%), street (15.88%), office (13.09%), public transport (11.87%)
- Pickpocket: public transport (28.57%), street (19.78%), office (17.58%), school (12.09%)
- Robbery: street (26.79%), home (25%) public transport (8.93%), office (8.93%)
Prey synthesized all this data and determined that the top five places where people are most likely to lose their devices -- home, street, office, public transport, school and university -- represent a combined 80.94% of all reported events. The report notes that “these five locations are places which users frequent as part of their daily routines” and goes on to concluded that “the majority of lost device events occur in places where the user is generally comfortable and does not expect insecurity.”
The report goes on to conclude: “If your phone falls into the wrong hands and doesn’t have the proper protection, the thief can get more than a resell profit. The information that on open smartphone provides is enough for a bad actor to carry out identity theft, especially when the phone line continues to be open. When that is the case, thieves can even utilize a stolen phone’s line to reset passwords on high-risk logins, such as your email.”
Methodology
The first annual Prey Mobile Theft & Loss Report considered a total of 829 filtered recovery reports voluntarily filed by Prey Software customers over the course of 2018. The reports came from Prey Anti-Theft users in 100 different countries around the world. Each case included the following anonymous data: type of event (theft or missing, and their different versions), the location where these events occurred, a brief story, and information regarding the device type and responsibility for the event.
Interactive Resources
Read more about the inaugural Prey Mobile Theft & Loss Report on our blog.
About Prey Inc.
Prey Inc. is the only provider of anti-theft solutions for tracking and protecting mobile devices that can manage and secure all of an organization’s mobile devices from the same place. Installed on more than 8 million devices worldwide, Prey’s cross-platform, open-source security solution consolidates mobile device management on a single account, no matter how many different device manufacturers or operating system need to be tracked. Find out more at www.preyproject.com.
Media Contact
Mike Schultz | Cavalier Communications
Phone: 978-496-1012
Mike@cavalier-communications.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/00f6ed39-1cfc-4bf1-864a-c24a8a950d6b