According to our database, about 20% of Prey’s recovered devices were found in the hands of people who had bought them online. The most frequent sites used for these activities turned out to be EBay and Craigslist. It is important to emphasize that none of these sites condone the trading of stolen devices, and because of this reason, they have implemented their own rules and regulations to put an end to the commercialization of misappropriated electronics. Nevertheless, thieves still manage to bypass them, leaving users at their mercy.

We don’t want you to become one of the victims and we are sure you don’t want that either. So, we have gathered an assortment of advice for you to take into account when buying used devices from online classifieds.

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According to Jiwire, there are around 823,314 free and paid Wifi hotspots in the world. There are 135,758 in the United States alone, meaning there’s a pretty good chance you have used at least one of these hotspots at a hotel, the subway station, the nearest Starbucks or even the bus, yet, not many people are aware of the vulnerabilities they expose themselves to while using these hotspots, which include stolen social network, banking and e-mail information to name but a few.

But, don’t panic.

The Prey Team is here to help you with your device’s safety and so we present you 7 tips to take into account when using Wi-Fi hotspots.
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As most iOS users know, it is extremely easy to uninstall apps in your iDevice. Just press an app icon long enough until it starts to shake uncontrollably and a little x will appear on the corner. Press it and the app is gone as quick as a bunny. But, have you ever asked yourself if there was a way to make uninstalling your favorite anti-theft software, a.k.a. Prey, less easy in iOS? Well, we have and we found a way. It is very easy and I will show how.

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Our hard-working coding gnomes have just confirmed the build of a new version of Prey for iOS. They haven’t slept for a while, but thanks to them, version 0.6.1 was successfully pushed to the AppStore. This new version should fix the known issue of pink pictures on iPhone 5, and will also support the higher screen resolution on iPads, both for portrait and landscape mode.

There are also the usual bug fixes, performance improvements, and all that nerdy stuff we all like. So, keep reading to learn all the juicy details about this still-hot new Prey for iPhones and iPads.

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Cellphone theft has been rising quite considerably. So much so that the chances of getting your device snatched is becoming a scarily common occurrence. In London, 314 phones are stolen everyday, which is 70% of all the personals taken. In San Francisco,  40% of all the robberies in 2012 were of cellphones. This is no wonder when we take into account that carrying a smartphone, the majority of phones stolen, is akin to carrying $300+ in one tiny piece of equipment and that there is plenty of black market for such products in the world.

So, here are some pointers to protect yourself and your phone from criminals (gathered personally by the security gnomes from Prey Labs):

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Nobody is off limits when it comes to laptop theft. We use these portable devices for a myriad of things: to take notes at school (or randomly browse the internet at a boring lecture), for work, to store our important files, music, memories, and more. Sadly, no matter how much time or money we invest securing them, the chances of your laptop getting stolen are there, and according to your lifestyle, they can vary quite significantly.

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Every new cell phone looks so much more amazing than your current one, and you’re probably thinking about getting one of them soon. But what about your current device? It still works great, and it’s not even two years old. Are you sure you want to make the switch? If you’re going for it anyway, please don’t throw your old phone away like it was garbage. You can always sell it, recycle it, or give it away, and every one of these alternatives is much more environment-friendly, and energy-efficient than the trash can. But be careful, because your phone definitely stores private, and you wouldn’t want it to be found by others.

If you’re planning on buying a new phone anyway, keep reading to learn how to safely get rid of your old one.

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Every service on the web will ask you for your email address, even when you’re creating a new email account. An email is always a backup plan for times when you can’t remember your password, or you can’t access your account; and since that’s the simplest way to confirm your identity, almost every site will do that. But what if someone hacks, and successfully hijacks your email account? With the current authentication services, a hacker could take over your whole online identity, including every site you care about.

But we don’t want that to happen, so follow these simple tips to transform your email address in the stronghold you need to keep your online identity safe and sound.

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IFTTT stands for If this, then that. It’s a super cool website that claims to help you put the internet to work for you. It lets you create connections between 59 different web services using statements like the one above, for free, and it’s so simple that anyone could use it. You choose the ingredients and then make your recipes, which you can share with the world if they make you proud. And if you’re not in the creative mood, you can browse more than 50,000 public recipes available discovering some interesting stuff.

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We get lots of questions from people that find about Prey only after their devices go missing, and we hate to tell them we can’t help them. So we decided to gather a few tips that may help locate a missing device without any anti-theft protection. There’s always hope!

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