According to latest data, theft of smartphones have dramatically declined in the past few months, thanks to the introduction of ‘Kill Switches.” For the uninitiated, kill switches enable users to shut down their phones permanently, either when they have lost their phones or when their phones have got stolen. In fact, after the introduction of kill switches, smartphone thefts in cities like New York, San Francisco and London have dropped dramatically – almost 50% since September 2013.
The curb in smartphone thefts have been appreciated by law enforcement officials, since they are the ones who demanded this particular security feature for all smart phones. The senior officials of law enforcement, praising the security feature, commented that the drop in smartphones thefts in some of the largest cities of America testifies the fact that technology is crucial for cutting down the crimes related to smartphone thefts.
The kill switch is designed to wipe out all the personal information of the owner and brick it so the phone cannot be sold or reused again.
After Apple introduced its kill switch named as ‘Activation Lock,’ other smartphone giants are following suit. Google has introduced the remote security feature in all its latest Android operating systems, Samsung did it with Galaxy S5 last year.
It’s understood that smartphone industry was not that keen about the kill switch security feature, but revised its decision later on. No wonder, other major smartphone manufacturers are showing inclination toward developing their own security feature.
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