When smartphones first started gaining popularity over a decade ago, they quickly became the targets for theft because of their inherent value as expensive electronics. By 2013, 3.1 million Americans were reporting a smartphone stolen annually, doubling the previous year’s record.

As noted by many journalists at the time, by weight, smartphones are far more valuable than solid silver. As the way we use mobile devices has changed, the relative value of the hardware itself versus the information stored on the devices has shifted — but both threats continue to be taken very seriously. In the U.S., the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) still produces an annual guide for consumers on how to protect smartphones and deal with their disappearance.

In an average year, one in 10 smartphone users will experience a device being lost or stolen, and about one in seven of those people will experience identity theft as a result.

However, there are several simple steps you can take to make losing your smartphone less costly, and improve your chances of getting it back.

An Ounce of Precaution Worth a Pound of Cure

All mobile security practices are greatly enhanced if you take a few precautionary steps when you set up your new phone.

What to Do When Disaster Strikes

Major smartphone operating systems, along with practices by governments and mobile carriers, have provided all smartphone users with a set of tools and remediation that make smartphone theft less attractive, and provide means of ensuring a device gone missing is less tragic.

Even More Tools for Businesses of All Sizes

All of the risks are even greater for business users and their employers. Many users do not have clear boundaries between their personal and business information on their devices, taking them to places they would never take other business assets. Statistics on lost and stolen devices show these incidents are relatively equally divided between business and nonbusiness hours, and that, while restaurants are the most likely offenders, your phone is as likely to be stolen at work as at a nightclub.

All modern smartphones have built-in APIs that make it possible for businesses to institute additional security measures, again increasing the likelihood of retrieving a lost device. Mobile Device Management (MDM) software places a small program, or agent, on a mobile device that allows an IT admin to enforce policies on the device, like using a secure passcode, and controlling other aspects of the device, such as locking, wiping or otherwise making the missing device useless when lost or stolen. For a business, this provides a layer of consistency across all the devices that are accessing your corporate data. The benefits of being able to manage and control a set of devices in a consistent manner make it well worthwhile to consider owning all of the devices used in your business.

Once you have installed the MDM agent on the devices, the management console lets you set each device to meet a set of minimum security requirements, as well as enable a consistent experience. If properly configured, you can make mobile work both easier and more secure at the same time.

Samsung mobile devices come with a long list of enterprise security features that have helped them gain approval for use by government, law enforcement and defense agencies around the world. The Samsung Knox platform, which is built into Samsung devices down to the hardware, supports the use of managed “containers” that allow businesses to separate personal information and apps on the device from the corporate information and apps. While having a good mobile policy in place for your employees is important, it won’t prevent a determined attacker. With Samsung Knox Platform for Enterprise, the company information and personal information can live separate lives on the device, and the company can enforce the kind of good digital hygiene that keeps everyone safer.

In the end, it is the universal utility of smartphones that makes them invaluable to businesses, but also attractive to thieves and hackers. Mobile technology providers have come a long way in ensuring that businesses have the tools to keep their devices and data secure in the face of many threats — as long as you take some basic steps to adopt those tools.

Find the right smartphone model for any user in a small or medium-size business.