Featured Image Credit: Edward Berthelot / Contributor / Getty
Despite the best efforts of tech giants to lock down smartphones and protect user data, phone theft continues to rise at an alarming rate.
London is among the worst affected cities, with the Metropolitan Police describing stolen phones as a 'significant' problem.
Fortunately, Apple has made a huge global security change in partnership with the Met that could 'disrupt a highly organised international business model worth millions.'
Under a new agreement, Apple will share stolen phone 'identifiers' with law enforcement, which allows police to track whether stolen devices reappear in circulation.
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Essentially, if the stolen iPhone cannot be reactivated for global resale, its value collapses and the device becomes unusable.
“Keeping our users, their devices, and their data safe is at the heart of what we do," said Kate Adams, senior vice president of government affairs at Apple. "That includes building industry-leading security features that significantly reduce the motivation for criminals to target people in the first place.”
Samsung and Google are also introducing security changes to tackle the same problem, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan welcoming the moves.
“I’ve seen for myself how Google and Samsung have introduced some advanced security features and I welcome Apple and the Met reaching an agreement to protect mobile phone users and make stolen phones unusable,” he said.
The Met Police also announced that phone theft in Westminster has been almost halved following a recent crackdown involving hundreds of arrests and the recovery of thousands of devices, the National News reported.
The force seized more than 3,500 illegally modified e-bikes and e-scooters since January last year, as offenders have increasingly turned to high-powered bikes to snatch phones and outrun officers on foot.
The force’s chief, Sir Mark Rowley, used the announcement to issue a statement: “I gave an ultimatum to tech firms – take urgent steps to prevent stolen phones from being resold and reused, or we will call on government to step in and legislate.
“For the first time, we are routinely sharing intelligence on stolen devices, building a joint picture of how these phones move and whether they reappear in circulation. That partnership is already making a difference."
He added: "If stolen phones cannot be reactivated, their value collapses, and so does the incentive to steal them. We are driving up the risk for offenders while cutting off the reward.”
Khan added that Big Tech's 'decisive and co-ordinated action' was long overdue but could make a huge difference to how phone theft is handled.
