Saturday, October 12, 2013

The downside of smartphone kill switches

<p>Thieves are targeting smartphones like never before.(Photo: Justin Kase Conder for USA TODAY)Tags</p><p>(Editor's note: In this guest essay, Tom Kemp, CEO of cloud security company Centrify, examines the pros and cons of adding "kill switches" on smartphones to deter theft)</p><p>The Secure Our Smartphones (SOS) Initiative, spearheaded by George Gascon, San Francisco District Attorney, and Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General, aims to slow down the overheating criminal market for stolen smartphones.</p><p>It is estimated that 113 smartphones are lost or stolen in the U.S. every minute, and last year, 1.6 million Americas were victimized for their smartphones. So-called "kill switches" would no doubt reduce the theft of smartphones, which is quickly becoming an epidemic, as the perpetrators would no longer be able to resell the devices.</p><p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/cybertruth/2013/10/10/the-downside-of-smartphone-kill-switches/2959687/">Keep reading...</a></p>

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