Kaspersky Mobile Security Lite available for free

Your smartphone is as likely to be lost or stolen as your wallet—and mobile payment systems on the horizon make the personal information on your smartphone more valuable than ever before. Kaspersky Lab released a free security application to keep your contacts, email and banking information from falling into the wrong hands.

Available through the Android Market, Kaspersky Mobile Security Lite lets you block sources of unwanted calls and text messages, and offers a basic level of protection for your Android-based smartphone.

By sending a text message to your missing phone—using any other phone or computer—you can remotely lock, block and track the device itself, or wipe all your information from your phone’s memory.

Missing smartphone?

For Android smartphones that are misplaced or left behind in the backseat of a taxi, Kaspersky Mobile Security Lite will use the smartphone’s GPS software to display its current coordinates to its owner. These GPS coordinates are automatically displayed on Google Maps, allowing users to obtain a real-time location of their misplaced phone.

Stolen smartphone?

If the phone has been stolen, the rightful owner can remotely lock access to the phone’s functions and address books and can block communications to and from the missing device. Kaspersky Mobile Security Lite can also remotely delete all personal data from the device—including contacts, addresses, calendars, text messages and email—preventing sensitive information from being illegally used or stolen.