DiskAgent Service Erases Data, Rings, Locks Lost Phones

Handsets in the enterprise enjoy a tad more security than the personal phones we all carry. The I.T. folks can remotely wipe your Windows Mobile device if lost or stolen, for example. Spearstone’s DiskAgent service offers that same peace of mind for personal Windows Mobile phones as well as those running  on the BlackBerry or PalmOS platforms. Spearstone plans to support Symbian S60 devices later this year. Their new smartphone protection service runs $1.95 a month (there is a free 30-day trial) and offers these features:

• Lock your phone with a password
• Force your phone to ring (great if you misplaced your phone and left it on vibrate – not supported on BlackBerry devices)
• Obtain the location of your GPS-enabled phone
• Erase all of the data on your phone as well as any attached memory cards
• Render your phone inoperable for anyone else (even if they replace the SIM card)

I like how you control the actions directly. You simply log in to the DiskAgent web site and you can choose to wipe, lock, or ring your phone. You can also configure automatic actions based on a level of inactivity, but I’d be careful with that. I envision taking a weekend vacation to unplug and have the phone auto-wipe as a result!

Obviously for the service to work, a small application is constantly running on your phone. And the monthly fee adds up to around $24 a year. Is that too much to pay for these services? It’s a personal decision of course, but smartphones are becoming central to our way of lives. They manage and contain our contact data: so much so that I can’t remember the last time I tapped out an actual phone number. They can hold gobs of e-mail filled with information. Our personal calendars might be in there as well. Losing that information or, worse yet, just handing it over to someone for their use or profit, isn’t an appealing prospect to me personally. Given that, I think this price isn’t out of line. How about you?