Smart phones scream to be saved from theft

That ear piercing ring you hear in a restaurant might not be somebody who forgot to set their mobile phone to vibrate.

A new service called Mobile Manager, from Synchronica, can remotely make a Windows Mobile-based handset emit an "annoying and embarrassing high-pitched wail," so it can be found after it has been stolen or misplaced.

Synchronica is vendor of mobile-device management tools that aims to help victims of mobile phone theft to strike back, according to the company.

Thousands of mobile phones are stolen every month, according to Synchronica. If these are smart phones, they can contain sensitive information such as email messages and computer files, potentially causing embarrassing data leaks.

Synchronica's mobile-phone management product can remotely lock and wipe data from Windows-based phones as soon as their owners report the loss. Companies can also turn on the 'Synchronica Scream' feature.

"On average, it takes only 30 seconds for someone to notice that their phone is missing, compared to an hour for a wallet or purse," according to Synchronica. As a result, victims should be able to hear their phones scream out for them.

Devices don't have to be lost or stolen to expose sensitive data. Engineers at McLean, Trust Digital, another mobile-security company, recently bought 10 smart phones on eBay and were able to recover 24,000 pages of data from nine of the gadgets, some of which were sold by employees of major corporations.

"The salvaged data included everything from personal banking and tax information to corporate sales activity notes to even former corporate client records, product roadmaps, contact address books, computer passwords, and other private, competitive and highly damaging material," according to a Trust Digital said.

Synchronica sells its Mobile Manager product to operators and businesses. The product works with Windows Mobile 2003, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Windows Mobile 5. Support for Symbian is underway. Trust Digital's Mobile Edge product has similar features, though its website doesn't list a 'scream' feature.

Joris Evers writes for CNET News.com