Report: Lost devices mean lost data during holiday season

With the holiday season nearly underway, shoppers are encouraged to keep track of all their computing devices to steer clear of identity theft.

According to data protection analysts from Credant Technologies, approximately 2,200 smartphones, tablets and PDAs have been lost already this year in America's 15 busiest shopping malls. Of these devices, only half were later claimed by their owners.

"Unsuspecting smartphone users have become victims of identity theft and fraud crimes perpetrated by criminals, and the evidence is that these devices are increasingly a target of choice," said Credant spokesman Sean Glynn.

This trend should also concern the business community, as a recent survey from Dimensional Research noted that 90 percent of employees now used their personal devices for work-related purposes.

To protect both business data and personal identities, report authors suggested that stronger password protection should be enforced across all platforms. Even among those users who do have passwords guarding all their devices, many are weak and can easily be cracked by experienced hackers. Instead, using password management software to generate and organize stronger passwords may be a more effective strategy.