Android, Windows to add ‘kill switch’ to curb phone theft

New York: Google and Microsoft will add a “kill-switch” feature to their Android and Windows phone operating systems.

The feature is a method of making a handset completely useless if it is stolen, rendering a theft pointless.

Authorities have been urging tech firms to take steps to help curb phone theft and argued that a kill-switch feature can help resolve the problem.

Apple and Samsung, two of the biggest phone makers, offer a similar feature on some of their devices. The move by Google and Microsoft means that kill switches will now be a part of the three most popular phone operating systems in the world.

Smartphone theft has become a big problem across the world. According to a report by US authorities: some 3.1 million mobile devices were stolen in the US in 2013, nearly double the number of devices stolen in 2012; one in three Europeans experienced the theft or loss of a mobile device in 2013; in South Korea, mobile device theft increased five-fold between 2009 and 2012; and in Colombia, criminals stole over one million devices in 2013.

A “hard” kill switch would render a stolen device permanently unusable and is favoured by legislators who want to give stolen devices the “value of a paperweight”. A “soft” kill switch only make a phone unusable to “an unauthorised user”. Some argue that the only way to permanently disable a phone is to physically damage it.

RIGHT DIRECTION

Experts worry that hackers could find a way to hijack a kill signal and turn off phones, and if a phone is turned off or put into aeroplane mode, it might not receive the kill signal at all.

Further, authorities claim that Apple’s feature — dubbed Activation Lock, which it introduced on all iPhones running the iOS 7 operating system in September last year — has helped reduce theft substantially.

According to a report by the New York State Attorney General, in the first five months of 2014 the theft of Apple devices fell by 17 per cent in New York City. Meanwhile, iPhone robberies fell 24 per cent in London and 38 per cent in San Francisco in the six months after Apple introduced the feature, compared to the previous six months.

“During the same period, thefts of other popular mobile devices increased,” the report says.

Mr Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, said the move was a step in the right direction.

“[It] will go a long way in helping authorities come one step closer to realising a vision of zero theft of mobile phones,” he said.

He added that it was “not a foolproof system” as thieves “will find a way to monetise the accessories and parts of a phone”.

However, the market for parts and accessories is relatively small and the kill switch “does substantially reduce the financial incentive of stealing a device”.

— BBC