Phone theft has been called an epidemic by politicians and police alike. It may sound like hyperbole but 113 cell phones are lost or stolen every minute in the U.S. and the combined value of smartphones lost and stolen daily across the country is $7 million. While most phone thefts involve devices accidentally left behind on café tables or pitched out of too-shallow pocketsversus actual robbery, it’s still a huge safety and security concern. People now use phones to access bank accounts, settle at the checkout, store personal photos and do their work. As valuable as a pilfered phone is, that kind of data can be worth a whole lot more to thieves.
That’s what makes the emerging trend of smartphone kill switch laws so important. Kill switches in phones make it possible to “brick” a device remotely, i.e., render it unusable in the event of loss or theft. California’s kill switch legislation – the first of its kind, which passed with widespread support from law enforcement agencies and prosecutors – continues to make headlines. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon told Forbes that even the limited implementation in kill switch laws had resulted in a big drop in smartphone theft. That could be why Oregon is now looking to pass similar legislation.
There are, of course, mobile security apps that can accomplish the same things as built-in kill switches but these require users to seek out and download third party programs. Some phone manufacturershave actually been shipping devices with kill switches for years, but most of these required users to opt in – and in many cases companies didn’t promote the feature. Thanks to the best mobile processing chips, some companies like Qualcomm, maker of the Snapdragon processor, started rolling out hardware solutions that allowed not only remote locking, but also full recovery in the event a bricked phone is found and returned to its owner.
Asofficials in other states and even other countries have argued for new laws mandating kill switches, the natural question that arises is why legislation matters. The answer can be found in how most of us use our phones. It’s not the devices but rather users themselves that represent the biggest threat to personal data security. A 2014 survey conducted by Consumer Reports found that most Americans don’t password protect their devices even though all phone manufacturers recommend doing so. Chances are good those same users aren’t digging through device settings totoggle their phones’ kill switch to opt in. That is, if they even know how to access security settings!
If Oregon’s eventual kill switch legislation looks anything like California’s, the built-in kill switch in every device sold in the state will be opt-out instead of opt-in and the lockout will have to be reversible if a device is recovered. Every phone will be protected with no third party apps or playing around with security settings required.
The stats show that kill switches work, not only as a reactionary response to theft but also as a deterrent. After Apple added a kill switch feature to all of its phones in 2013, phone thefts dropped 40% in London, 16% in New York City and 22% in San Francisco. Widespread legislation could result in even more striking reductions, but there’s no reason for consumers to wait for new laws to pass. A little googling will show you how to activate your phone’s kill switch if it came with one, or start using a password now andplan to make sure your next phone comes equipped with the ability to remotely lock it down in the event of loss or theft. With all of the data that’s likely on your phone, a little protection can offer a surprising amount of peace of mind.
Via http://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/item/38084-california-requires-smartph
