Samsung proposed pre-loading smartphones with a ‘kill switch’ that would enable customers to render their stolen or lost phones inoperable, but the security feature was rejected by US carriers.
According to District Attorney George Gascon all US carriers including Verizon, AT&T, US Cellular, Sprint and T-Mobile were against Samsung’s proposal of preloading its phones with Absolute LoJack anti-theft software. US carriers claimed that the feature wasn’t the measure to deter smartphone theft and it would in turn allow hackers to disable someone’s phone.
According to data produced by FTC, over 30 percent of all robberies in the US involve a smartphone and leading law enforcement agencies have demanded a solution to prevent / deter these thefts. Samsung already preinstalled the app on some of its smartphones, but it was ordered by US carriers to remove it before the device is shipped.
Gascon is of the opinion that the solution put forward by Samsung has the potential of safeguarding customers but the email demanding removal of the pre-installed security feature “suggests that the carriers are rejecting a technological solution so they can continue to shake down their customers for billions of dollars in (theft) insurance premiums.”
CTIA-The Wireless Association and a trade group for wireless providers claims that the kill switch solution has serious risks. CTIA claimed that the measure could allow hackers to disable mobile devices and lock out legitimate users from using their own devices including devices used by all law enforcement agencies, Department of Defense and Homeland Security.
James Moran, a security adviser with the GSMA, said, “The problem is how to you trigger a kill switch in a secure manner and not be compromised by a third party and be subjected to hacking.”
[Source: The New York Times]
