Microsoft and Google will introduce “kill switches” to their respective smartphone operating systems, the New York Attorney General announced today.
As part of the Attorney General’s “Secure Our Smartphones” initiative, Eric Schneiderman announced in a report today that an agreement had been reached with the tech giants. The kill switch will render a smartphone useless once it has been activated remotely, making less appealing to thieves.
Apple introduced the kill switch – or “Activation Lock” as it’s known – to iOS 7 in September last year and, according the report, iPhone thefts have radically dropped as a result. “In the first five months of 2014, robberies and grand larcenies involving Apple products dropped 19% and 29%, respectively, compared to the same time period from 2013. The decrease in Apple thefts far surpassed the citywide decrease in all robberies (-10%) and all grand larcenies (-18%).”
Conversely, the report explained how smartphones without a kill switch saw a rise in thefts: “Perhaps most tellingly, robberies and grand larcenies from a person involving a Samsung smartphone, which did not have a kill switch during much of this time, increased by over 40%.
“Statistics from San Francisco and London show similar outcomes. In San Francisco, iPhone robberies declined 38% while robberies of Samsung devices increased by 12%. In London, Apple thefts declined by 24% while Samsung thefts increased by 3%.”
Carriers and trade association CITA, which represents the wireless telecommunications industry, had previously opposed the idea of a kill switch, claiming that “it isn’t the answer”. CITA argued that hackers could use the feature to activate the switch when it isn’t needed and cause mischief for millions of smartphone owners. Its opposition slowed down the possibly of the idea becoming a reality, but it thawed its opinion and came around to the idea earlier this year.
With Android and Microsoft’s now on-board, practically all smartphones will have the feature embedded in them. There’s no information yet on when the update
As part of the Attorney General’s “Secure Our Smartphones” initiative, Eric Schneiderman announced in a report today that an agreement had been reached with the tech giants. The kill switch will render a smartphone useless once it has been activated remotely, making less appealing to thieves.
Apple introduced the kill switch – or “Activation Lock” as it’s known – to iOS 7 in September last year and, according the report, iPhone thefts have radically dropped as a result. “In the first five months of 2014, robberies and grand larcenies involving Apple products dropped 19% and 29%, respectively, compared to the same time period from 2013. The decrease in Apple thefts far surpassed the citywide decrease in all robberies (-10%) and all grand larcenies (-18%).”
Conversely, the report explained how smartphones without a kill switch saw a rise in thefts: “Perhaps most tellingly, robberies and grand larcenies from a person involving a Samsung smartphone, which did not have a kill switch during much of this time, increased by over 40%.
“Statistics from San Francisco and London show similar outcomes. In San Francisco, iPhone robberies declined 38% while robberies of Samsung devices increased by 12%. In London, Apple thefts declined by 24% while Samsung thefts increased by 3%.”
Carriers and trade association CITA, which represents the wireless telecommunications industry, had previously opposed the idea of a kill switch, claiming that “it isn’t the answer”. CITA argued that hackers could use the feature to activate the switch when it isn’t needed and cause mischief for millions of smartphone owners. Its opposition slowed down the possibly of the idea becoming a reality, but it thawed its opinion and came around to the idea earlier this year.
With Android and Microsoft’s now on-board, practically all smartphones will have the feature embedded in them. There’s no information yet on when the update
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