Kicking off Device Theft Awareness Month with #AbsoluteUncovered

A few weeks ago we talked about what what you can do to protect yourself in the event that your smartphone, tablet, or laptop gets lost or stolen. We even took a 24-hour #DigitallyDark challenge where we gave up our smartphones for 24 hours to see how it would feel. Well, August is Device Theft Awareness Month, and we wanna talk more about what you can do if you find that you're one of over 3.1 million Americans who'll likely fall victim to smartphone theft this year. A staggering 1.4 million people who lost their devices in 2013 never got them back--that is 4.5 million lost and stolen smartphones (and that doesn't include tablets or laptops,) and is enough to make us want to do something about it. This month, follow the hashtag #AbsoluteUncovered as we dive deep into this topic.

Back in June we introduced you to Absolute LoJack, a data protection software product that is tailored to help you keep your mobile data safe, track your devices in the event of loss or theft, and even an option for assistance with recovery so you can get them back. We are taking part in Device Theft Awareness Month by bringing you a series of articles in order to keep you more informed on the issue and how you can protect yourself from becoming another statistic.

I was just talking with someone here in Seattle last week who said she put her iPhone down on a table outside a club in order to get her ID out of her purse to show to the bouncer. 20 seconds later, her phone was gone, disappearing into the crowd. Her response? "Who steals phones anymore?!" Obviously, a lot of people do.

These days, it's not just about the cost of the device (which is  deceptive in and of itself, your $200 smartphone will likely cost over $600 to replace if you are under contract,) but the precious data that's on it as well. For me that includes things like access to personal information that I wouldn't want to have fall into the wrong hands, but also things like pictures and videos I've taken that I may not have yet synced back to my Mac to save them.

This months, we will be sharing tips and tricks from the forensic experts on the Absolute Lojack Investigation and Recovery Team to bring you behind-the-scenes info on this topic that may help you find your smartphone in the event of theft, and even avoid it in the first place. In addition, the company is offering a special 30% discount on the Absolute LoJack Standard and Premium subscriptions to our readers through August 31st. Just use promo code UNCOVER30 during checkout. We want to thank Absolute LoJack for sponsoring Device Awareness Month here at Gear Live, and for providing us with a copy of its software.