Mobile Phones security: Insurance Vs AntiVirus

In this era of smartphones where users are now spending thousands of rupees to get a decent smart phone, concern for the security of such devices is also increasing. A 5 second event can bring you loss of thousands (in case of theft/loss). With the technology advancing to cloud computing and ability to access anything, anywhere , anytime from your smartphones when you are logged into your accounts, lost of your so called smart phone can also make you loose your precious, personal data as some one else will be having the access to the same. To secure our devices from physical theft we can insure our phones with insurance companies and to secure our data we have choice of antivirus softwares which provides you facility to block access to your phones content remotely in case of theft/lost.

Lets have a look on both of these options.

1) Insurance

Cost: around 3% of your device cost.

Validity: 1 Year.

Scope:
Fire (very rare chance to happen)
Riot, Strike, terrorist activities (rarer than first case)
Theft (most likely case)
Accident

Insurance covers your smart phone for the  above mentioned risks including theft but from past experiences around me I will say it is not that friendly for you as it excludes theft from unattended vehicles, mysterious disappearance, breakdown, loss by water etc.

Even if it is a genuine theft case then also you need to file FIR (for every 40 cases of mobile theft police files FIRs of only around 6 cases), but in India at almost every police station you will find it difficult to prove that your phone is really stolen and not lost because of your carelessness. Even if you think you succeeded in convincing them because they are writing in their register you are  mistaken as they are just entering it as an incident in their files not FIR. So make sure to get a copy of FIR if it happens to you (may god it not happen :) ). So after all this when FIR reaches to your insurance company it may again get rejected for even slightest of mistake in your claim.

Pros:  If claim gets thru you get your money back to buy another one :). Only applicable to physical theft.

Cons:  Very complex procedure to claim, ambiguity over  terms and conditions, covers only for 1 year.

2) Antivirus 

Cost: Vary from vendor to vendor ~Rs500

Scope:
Data security
Virus attacks,
Call Blocking
SMS Blocking
Spam protection
Anti-theft

Advantage with Antivirus is that, it protects you from virus attacks, spam, unwanted callers. At the same time some of Antivirus provides you Anti-theft package which allows you to remote lock your phone, track your device, receive SMS from the new SIM when your SIM is replaced this way you can track your phone easily by getting number of other party, block your phone when SIM is changed, wipe out your existing data.

This way you can- be sure that your personal data is not in other hands, track your mobile, and be secure from malwares.

Pros: Data Security, increased productivity, mobile tracking/blocking in case of theft, easy upgradation.

Cons: Helps you to secure your data and track your lost phone but does not guarantee recovery of your loss. :(