Beyond cracked screens: how device protection can evolve to secure our digital lives
In London, a phone is stolen every six minutes, and in the US, it was reported that 1.4 million devices were stolen last year. But the real danger is not in losing the handset itself.
In today’s world, cell phones have become extensions of who we are. They keep our money, our memories, our identity.
Aditya Hindocha is VP of Account Partnerships at SquareTrade Europe.
One London victim lost more than £21,000 in the space of an hour (including a £7,000 loan in his name) after thieves hijacked his phone on the Underground and quickly accessed his financial and banking apps.
But most people don’t think about device protection until it’s too late – convinced that breaches, scams, and digital threats are happening to other people, not them. That hope is a luxury we can no longer afford.
From physical loss to digital risks
Today, standard phone protection often covers cracked screens, water damage, and the cost of replacing a lost device. That made sense when devices were mostly communication tools. But the risk and protection situation has moved on since then.
The truth is that our devices play an important role in today’s world. We need them to live, work, connect, and play, as they are the gateways to our entire digital life. Almost two-thirds (64%) of Brits say they would feel disconnected from their lives without their phone, yet 72% don’t have device insurance, according to SquareTrade research.
This disconnect highlights how security has failed to keep up with modern risks. Computer hardware has evolved into leaner, more durable machines. But device protection has yet to evolve to keep pace.
What is missing is coverage and protection of digital assets and identities stored within the device. And if nothing changes, that gap between the threats to our digital identity and the protection we currently offer, will only continue to grow.
Bridging the gap
The future will require protection that integrates both physical and digital assets, anticipating (rather than reacting to) risks, and quickly restoring consumer confidence when things go wrong.
At its most basic level, protection needs to be simple and easy to understand. 43% of UK consumers find insurance policies confusing, while 59% struggle to find the right coverage.
Current coverage options are diverse, split between device insurance, banks, and online security tools, creating a significant protection gap for consumers. That means that when a device is stolen, victims are forced to scramble between providers, one of whom replaces the handset, while—many others—face fraud charges.
Integration is one of the missing pieces. There should be one solution for consumers to legislate if the worst happens.
British consumers agree. 94% said they value models that include coverage for services they already use. This provides a unique opportunity for security providers to develop a solution approach that supports the needs of today’s consumers.
Technology also plays a big role in this change. AI will power future solutions that flag malicious behavior before fraud occurs, automatically lock down stolen devices and provide seamless recovery and recovery.
This will move protection from a reactive, disparate service to a proactive, seamless safety net that adapts in real-time to how people live and work with technology.
We are already seeing providers develop solutions to address specific pieces of this threat puzzle. Revolut recently introduced Street Mode, a location-awareness feature that recognizes when users are outside of their trusted locations.
Once activated, it automatically delays bank transfers and requires additional biometric authentication, creating a critical window to stop unlocked phone thieves from withdrawing accounts before the victim reacts.
This type of flexible protection is what is needed, but a broader challenge remains. How do we extend this kind of intelligent protection to all digital assets?
Smart devices, smart threats
An integrated approach will become more important as our technology advances at a rapid pace. Manufacturers continue to push the boundaries in their quest to bring something new and innovative to the market, from AI-enabled devices that anticipate our every need to sophisticated wearables that combine virtual reality with the digital world.
Along with this, the threat landscape is also growing. Fraud is now one of the fastest growing crimes around the world with phishing attacks, deep-pocketed scams, and identity fraud ranging from false concerns to everyday things.
And AI-enabled scams and identity fraud are quickly becoming the new norm, as AI creates completely fictional but highly-personalized individuals that are increasingly difficult to recognize.
Protecting the rewriting of the new digital world
The definition of protection is changing. Once you focus on broken screens and lost handsets, the problem today is much bigger than just hardware. Protection must go from effective maintenance of a single device to effective protections that are relevant to modern risks, which include the most important digital aspects of our lives.
Show us the best secure smartphone.
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