how to really secure data on a phone?

timmer3

hi. i had my phone stolen a month or so ago and i didn't realise how much personal information i had synchronised on the phone from outlook, notes, contacts, calendars, even texts etc. it gave me a bit of a shock and got me thinking, is there any way to secure the data on the phone?

it was a nokia e52 (S60) which has a remote lock feature (similar to the iphone remote wipe) which you can text the phone (or issue a command from a mail/server) with a code and then if the thief gets the code wrong 3 times the phone gets wiped. this is 99% useless to me because any self-respecting phone thief will pull out the sim card as soon as they have it, so you can't text the phone in this case. or at the very least they could switch on flight-mode and that way they could still plug it in to a PC (without requiring any PIN) and start pulling all the files off it for possible fraud use / identity theft etc.

i've done a fair bit of research for security software online and it generally comprises of gimmicky features like remote wipe, GPS tracking and 'warnings' to sound a buzzer to the thief (which will really scare them). these features are all useless if the phone is offline, because the data is unencrypted.

my ideal set up would be to have everything (including contacts and SMS records etc) encrypted on the phone by the PIN number, which could be required every time you want to use the phone. and sure, have remote wipe as an option if they leave the phone switched on and connected. but if they do try to download files it's all garbage without the PIN.

is this possible?

timmer3

doh! can't believe i didn't know that.
thanks a lot

drunkmonkey

Kapersky do a mobile security software, I haven't tried it yet. It won't work on iphone but runs on Symbian and Windows Mobile

http://www.kaspersky.co.uk/kaspersky_mobile_security

It helps you track down your phone if it's stolen as well

kc66

I have wavesecure for android phones. Great app. Allows you to remotely lock, wipe and locate the phone. It also locks and sounds an alarm if the sim is changed. I believe its available for Symbian also.

drunkmonkey

Was it expensive?