Mobile remote kill switches help halve London smartphone theft
The implementation of a kill switch into Android and iOS smartphones has set in motion a dramatic decrease of the device’s theft internationally, in particular London.
In 2014, London reported a 50 per cent decrease of iPhone thefts as thieves were locked out of the stolen devices by the kill switches. Similarly, San Francisco saw a 40 per cent fall and New York a quarter.
On the news, London mayor Boris Johnson, said: “We have made real progress in tackling the smartphone theft epidemic that was affecting many major cities just two years ago.”
The kill switch remains optional for iPhone users leaving some devices vulnerable to theft. Similarly, Android Lollipop offers a remote Factory Reset protection to lock thieves out of the devices from afar.
This follows London, San Francisco and New York launching the ‘Secure Our Smartphones’ (SOS) initiative in 2013 to tackle smartphone theft by pushing for the devices to leave to factory with remote protections already in place.
Microsoft’s Window’s phones remain without the remote lock feature leaving them vulnerable to theft until this year’s launch of Windows 10.
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