Calif Gov't thinks a mandatory kill switch will deter crime, how about a IMEI registration system instead?

ComputerWorld reports on a technical proposal in CA for a mandatory kill switch.

California proposes mandatory kill-switch on phones and tablets

Proposed legislation part of an effort to slow rising smartphone and tablet thefts

By Martyn Williams

February 7, 2014 05:04 AM ET

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IDG News Service - Politicians and law enforcement officials in California will introduce a bill on Friday that requires all smartphones and tablet PCs sold in the state be equipped with a digital "kill-switch" that would make the devices useless if stolen.

The bill is a response to a rise in thefts of portable electronics devices, often at knife or gunpoint, being seen across the state. Already half of all robberies in San Francisco and 75% of those in Oakland involve a mobile device and the number is rising in Los Angeles, according to police figures.

I’ve written about the issues created by the airplane mode that take your device offline and you can’t use a kill-switch when it is not on the network.

Another way is to enforce a registration of unique identification system that allows the tracking and ownership of a phone.  IMEI is a number used, but some thought could be put into how ownership of a phone can be determined.

International Mobile Station Equipment Identity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

The International Mobile Station Equipment Identity or IMEI /aɪˈmiː/^[1] is a number, usually unique,^[2][3] to identify 3GPP (i.e., GSM, UMTS and LTE) and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone, but can also be displayed on-screen on most phones by entering *#06# on the dialpad, or alongside other system information in the settings menu on smartphone operating systems.

The IMEI number is used by a GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used for stopping a stolen phone from accessing that network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "blacklist" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless on that network and sometimes other networks too, whether or not the phone'sSIM is changed.

The IMEI system is not perfect.

The IMEI number is not supposed to be easy to change, making the CEIR blacklisting effective. However this is not always the case: a phone's IMEI may be easy to change with special tools. In addition, IMEI is un-authenticated mobile identifier (as opposed to IMSI, which is routinely being authenticated by home and serving mobile networks.) Spoofed IMEI can thwart all efforts to track handsets, or target handsets for Lawful Intercept.^{[citation needed]} Australia was first to implement IMEI blocking across all GSM networks, in 2003.^[7]

And neither will be a kill-switch.  

Seems like this would be a good solution to have designed by the people who steal the phones.

Changing Operations with Proximity Sensors, iBeacon

I am spending more time in operations, and playing with some what if ideas.

Apple announced iBeacon and most are focusing on retail and consumer type of experiences.  Here is a Washington Post article with a  few.

How iBeacons could change the world forever

• BY MATT MCFARLAND

• January 7 at 10:00 am

Retailers are likely to place iBeacon sensors such as this one from Shopkick around their stores, in hopes of better connecting with and serving customers. (Courtesy of Shopkick)

Apps such as Google Maps and FourSquare have long used location data to try to improve the average person’s mobile experience. But that could be just the tip of the location iceberg as Bluetooth’s latest technology revolutionizes how people interact with everyday objects and places.

The above is about Radius Networks device.

Here is a GigaOm post by Kevin Tofel on Qualcomm’s Gimbal device.

Step aside iBeacon, Qualcomm has low-cost Gimbal Proximity Beacons

by Kevin C. Tofel

DEC. 9, 2013 - 9:02 AM PST

17 Comments

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SUMMARY:

Apple’s iBeacon isn’t the only game in town when it comes to Bluetooth Smart proximity devices for retailers. Qualcomm’s Gimbal Proximity Sensor is now available, supporting iOS today and Android in the future. Get ready for a hyper-personal in-store shopping experience.

It is an interesting exercise to think about how operations can be change with proximity sensors.  This is much more interesting than RFID.  Why?  iBeacon is built on Bluetooth 4.0 which is more ubiquitous than RFID readers.  NFC hasn’t really taken off, and with Apple’s iBeacon announcement bluetooth proximity sensors are hot.

#1 thing to protect your Smartphone when Lost or Stolen, Keep it Connected, then find it

I wrote a post on the 5 things to protect your iPhone.  I’ve read some other posts on features like Find My iPhone, Activation Lock, etc.  After reading about the silliness of privacy int’l thinking phones can be track when off, I decided it is better change the order of what to do in a focus on the most important first.

Rule #1 for finding your lost or stolen phone - keep it connected to the network.  If disconnected or off you will not be able to ring it, GPS find it, lock it, or erase it.

On iOS7 disable access to control center from the “access on lock screen” which allows anyone to put your phone in airplane mode, then put it in their pocket.  You can’t ring it, or find it now.

In Android, I can't find a way to get to airplane mode from the lock screen.  

Rule #2 use the OS’s find iPhone activation lock or Android Device Manager

iOS7 use activation lock in Find my iPhone.

Android use Android Device Manager.  I just tried the feature on my Galaxy Note 3 and it rings it even with volume muted. Sweet! 

If your phone is connected then you can find it.  A thief could hard reset your phone which on some devices would turn it off, but on most the phone reboots and it is back on the network.

I hope this helps you out and your friends.  My 12 year old daughter is providing mobile tech support to her friends showing how they turn off “control center” in iOS7.   I’ll see if I can get my son to do the same on his bus which is where this problem started.  If my son had done this, he would probably have his phone, but I would not have figured this out and shared it with many more people in this post.

Too funny, Privacy Int'l thinks the NSA can track phones that are turned off

Battery life is the main thing that defines the user experience.  In the old days, there may have been phones that used power when off, draining the battery.  In the highly competitive world of smartphones who would drain the battery now?

Arstechnica has a post that Privacy int’l is asking manufacturers how the NSA can track their phones when powered off.  This is funny that someone actually thinks the phones are still connected.

Back in July 2013, The Washington Post reported that nearly a decade ago, the National Security Agency developed a new technique that allowed spooks to “find cellphones even when they were turned off. JSOC troops called this ‘The Find,’ and it gave them thousands of new targets, including members of a burgeoning al-Qaeda-sponsored insurgency in Iraq, according to members of the unit.”

Many security researchers scratched their heads trying to figure out how this could be so. The British watchdog group Privacy International took it upon itself to ask eight major mobile phone manufacturers if and how this was possible in August 2013. On Monday, the group published replies from the four firms that have responded thus far: Ericsson, Google, Nokia, and Samsung. (Apple, HTC, Microsoft, and BlackBerry have not yet sent in a response.)

A research officer at the organization, Richard Tynan, wrote that “two themes stood out among the companies that replied: hardware manufacturers claim that they strive to switch off almost all their components while the phone is powered down, and if tracking occurs it is likely due to the installation of malware onto the phone.” Here are a few of the responses:

According to Tynan, Google responded:

When a mobile device running the Android Operating System is powered off, there is no part of the Operating System that remains on or emits a signal. Google has no way to turn on a device remotely.

Samsung Vice President Hyunjoon Kim noted that “without the power source it is not possible to transmit any signal, due to the components being inactive. Thus the powered off devices are not able to be tracked or monitored by any third party.” Meanwhile, Nokia’s Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Chad Fentress said:

Our devices are designed so that when they are switched off, the radio transceivers within the devices should be powered off. We are not aware of any way they could be re-activated until the user switches the device on again. We believe that this means that the device could not be tracked in the manner suggested in the article you referenced.

 

5 Steps to protect your iPhone or iPad if lost or stolen

Unfortunately a lost or stolen iPhone is part of life and there are too many people out there who will take your phone when you put it down.  My son just had his phone most likely stolen on Tues and it has not shown up.  After going through a bunch of what could be done, I figured out the following as good steps to take.  I did some of these but not all, and have now taken these steps with mine and the rest of the families iPhones

1. Install the latest iOS 7 release that allows you to keep the phone from being re-imaged unless you turn off Find iPhone.

2. Turn on Find iPhone with Activation Lock.

3. Disable ways to go into Airplane Mode.  Airplane mode turns off cell and wifi connections so you can’t ring or Find the iPhone.

4. You can try going to your carrier or police, but if you can’t find the iPhone there isn’t much they will be able to do.

5. Monitor your usage and Find iPhone to see if there is any activity from your account.

So let’s walk through these five steps.

1. Install iOS 7 to protect your phone with Find iPhone.

Forget iTunes Radio, thin fonts, and multitasking. The most important new thing about iOS 7 might be that your friendly neighborhood police officer loves it.

That’s right: In New York and elsewhere around the country, law enforcement officials are actively encouraging iPhone and iPad users to upgrade to Apple’s new mobile operating system. Why? Because the new Activation Lock feature in iOS 7 makes the phone very difficult to use or to wipe and resell if it gets stolen. Police and prosecutors hope that this technological development will lead to a reduction in smartphone thefts.

2. The specific feature you want is Find My iPhone with Activation lock.

With iOS 7, Find My iPhone includes a new feature called Activation Lock, which makes it more difficult for anyone else to use or sell your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch if you ever lose it. It starts working the moment you turn on Find My iPhone in iOS 7. With Activation Lock, your Apple ID and password will be required before anyone can:

• Turn off Find My iPhone on your device
• Erase your device
• Reactivate and use your device

3.  I had done the previous two steps, but I didn’t do this.  Disable ways to get to Airplane Mode.  Why?  Because someone grabs your phone puts it in airplane mode and now you can’t ring it or find it, because it is not connected to the Internet or Cell network.  Most of us use airplane mode from settings, but without a password you can get to Airplane Mode through the control center.  Turn off control center in lock mode if you don’t want just anyone to be able to make your iPhone disappear.

4 and 5.  My son’s iPhone has not had any activity (data, phone calls, or SMS) since it disappeared and it has been in offline mode the whole time which means most likely the phone was stolen, not lost.  Even if you hard reset a locked iOS 7 iPhone when you turn it back on it will show up on the network and you can see if through Find My iPhone.

It was a bit painful to go through this process.  Luckily I have another iPhone 4S for my son or a galaxy Note 1.  I have some other ideas too on how I could make it so my son is not a target of those on his school bus.  It is sad that kids will do this to others on a bus, but it is a harsh lesson to learn that some people will pray on your trust of thinking your mobile devices are safe.

It takes less than 2 seconds to swipe control center on iPhone and hit that airplane mode icon, and the phone is gone.  iPhone’s are so small it is easy to hide.  And, I am sure they are ready for the mistaken excuse of it looked my iPhone and I put it in my pocket by accident.