LG and Samsung planning anti-theft ‘kill switch’ for phones and tablets
LG and Samsung are reportedly working on an anti-theft 'kill switch' for stolen mobile phones and tablets that will render them inoperable.
A recent report suggests that LG and Samsung are working on a new ‘kill switch’ for their future mobile phones and tablets. The software will make the device completely unusable, which would make stealing devices rather useless.
Smartphone theft has jumped nearly 500% from 2009 according to a recent report from the National Policy Agency and is not showing any signs of slowing down. Many companies including Samsung have talked about it in the past. Apple has recently added Find my iPhone, and Google has also recently launched a similar service for Android.
Pantech has also started offering this kill switch on all their devices earlier this year. Pantech has added the “V-protection,” software on its Vega No. 6 and has added a new security feature the fingerprint scanner to its latest Vega LTE-A phone. A user would need to match the scanned fingerprint to gain access to the apps, messages or photos saved in “Secret Mode” in the phone. However a company spokesperson stated that there is still a lack of awareness about the feature.
South Korea’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning stated last week that it is in talks with Samsung and LG about introducing the new function to all their smartphones from early next year. This new anti-theft system will stop a massive and growing problem. With the new system swapping the SIM card, flashing new firmware or wiping the phone would make the phone unusable. However, users will have to register their devices themselves for the kill switch feature to work. This would ease privacy concerns for users who do not require this feature.
Source: WSJ