Steal me I cry....

An old song came to my mind when I read this piece of news - Shake me I rattle ...squeeze me I cry and so the song goes.... - but that seems to aptly define what the new generation of handsets enabled with Remote XT do when they are stolen. In fact the new handsets are designed to not only wipes the phone clean and backs up its data, but also causes a shrill, piercing alarm to sound and the message, "This phone is stolen," to appear on its display.

This seems to be the latest gadget going around and doing its bit to ensure Network security. In today’s age of wireless LAN and staying connected 24/7 through your telephone, the telephone has become very much part of our network and one could say Network security begins with the telephone Portal.

Remote XT is the British service provider that’s making this service available in Britain. The firm realized a need for such a device existed after statistics indicated that one phone was stolen every 12 seconds and also that mobile thefts have increased 190% in recent years.

Hitherto, the phones had a method of locking out the thief from accessing the information contained. But with the Remote XT product service which can be bought for just $19 a month, not only does it lock the thief out but also goes one step further to wipe out any data present on the phone. It also provides a daily remote backup. Previously, a signal could be sent to a stolen handset to deactivate it without any backup, rendering it useless. Remote XT is the first company to combine the two services. The Remote XT software can also be used to scan for viruses.

With a large number of people using high-end smart phones (for which this service is designed at the moment), they can be assured of having all their valuable information intact after a single call is made to the service provider to LOCK the product. In time it is expected that the same service will also be available for available on more phones in the next few years.