Gardai have called on the mobile phone industry to introduce a standard ‘kill switch’ to act as a deterrent against mobile phone theft, said a report in the Irish Independent.
According to official figures, 6,949 smartphones were reported stolen in the second quarter of 2013, often by Eastern European gangs who resell handsets online or take them out of the country quickly to avoid being recognised.
Unlike popular methods of smartphone security like PIN codes and location apps like ‘Find my iPhone’ that can locate and wipe personal data from handsets, a kill switch would render a device completely unusable, with no resale value.
Gardai have contacted smartphone manufacturers Apple, Samsung, Blackberry and Nokia to discuss the introduction of an international standard. A campaign involving civic leader in New York, San Francisco and London called Secure Our Smartphones has also called upon the mobile industry to develop a standardised feature for deactivation stolen handsets.
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