Your Smartphone Is a Gold Mine for Cybercriminals | OUCH! October 2026

Excited by the view of the ocean and eager to get back outside as quickly as possible, she accidentally left her smartphone on the table when she left. It was only several hours later that she realized the phone was missing. Whoever had found her phone now potentially had access to Emma’s personal email, social media accounts, banking apps, and even the authentication app she used to verify her identity when logging in to important websites. If a device is lost or stolen, a secure screen lock can prevent someone else from immediately accessing your apps, accounts, and personal information. Most modern mobile devices have built-in services that allow you to locate them on a map, make them ring, lock them remotely, or erase all their data if the device cannot be recovered. If your phone is lost, damaged, or breaks, a recently created backup lets you restore everything to a new device within minutes, including not only all installed apps but also their settings. She holds a doctorate in cybercrime investigation, is the author of more than 30 publications, and draws on her experience in law-enforcement forensics in her work.