If you own a smartphone, it might be nearly impossible to discover your device, once lost. Recent studies conducted by security firm Symantec show that more than 89% of smartphone finders will snoop inside the device and search for personal data.

Symantec’s research entitled “Honey Stick” released on March 9 comes up with statistics regarding the theft or the loss of a smartphone. For example, even though around 50% of the finders of a smartphone will try returning it to owners, most of them will still search inside the device. To make researches even more accurate, the security company intentionally dropped off 50 smartphones in New York City, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles in public places such as food courts or parks. All smartphones were previously equipped with personal data like passwords, emails or photos, and with a GPS tracking system to see which applications were opened.

Around 57% of people who found the phones viewed personal files entitled “saved passwords”, while 53% of finders opened a file called “HR salaries”. Seventy- two percent of finders accessed a file marked “private photos”.

“The theft or accidental loss of a smartphone can expose businesses and individuals to loss of any data stored on the device, as well as data residing in corporate systems or cloud applications to which the device might have direct connections” the report warned. To prevent such unintentional snooping, smartphone users are warned to save their personal files in different locations and with different passwords, as well as to install a security code each time the device opens.