mobile theft

Improving Anti-Theft Measures for Mobile Devices

May 19, 2016May 26, 2023mobilephonesecurity936843331Leave a comment

I’m pleased to say that the latest version of the GSMA SG.24 Anti-Theft Device Feature Requirements has been published. Many members of the Device Security Group I chair at the GSMA have been personally committed to trying to reduce the problem of mobile theft over many years. This represents just one small part of these continued efforts.

There is no magic solution to the problem of mobile theft as I’ve discussed many times (some listed below). The pragmatic approach we’ve taken is to openly discuss this work with all the interested parties including OS vendors such as Apple, Google and Microsoft as well as to reach out to Police and government particularly in the US and the UK where the subject has been of high interest. We’ve taken their feedback and incorporated it into the work. Everyone has a part to play in reducing theft of mobile devices, not least the owner of the device itself.

Some extra resources:

Some advice on theft in phones from the UK Home Office is listed here.
Our mobile security leaflet can be downloaded (and re-printed and distributed if you want).
If you fancy a more detailed read on some of these topics, check out my short book from 2013, Mobile Security: A Guide for Users

Some previous blogs on mobile theft:

Shiny Expensive Things: The Global Problem of Mobile Phone Theft

December 5, 2013October 25, 2018mobilephonesecurity936843331Leave a comment

I was kindly invited down to Bournemouth University the other day by Shamal Faily, to give a talk as part of their Cyber Seminar series. I decided to talk about a quite hot topic which I’m very familiar with, mobile phone theft. The slides are updated from an earlier talk, but cover some of the political involvement in 2012/13 and some information on recent industry action and what should happen next.

Shiny Expensive Things: The Global Problem of Mobile Phone Theft from David Rogers

Mobile Security: A Guide for Users

August 23, 2013October 25, 2018mobilephonesecurity936843331Leave a comment

Back in May, I released a leaflet on Mobile Phone Security advice for ordinary people to be able to manager their own security for their devices. I promised that we’d be releasing the longer whitepaper that accompanies it soon, so here it is. We’ve released it as a short book, which can you can initially purchase from this site. The book covers some of the history of mobile security, things that have happened in industry and security design decisions that have been taken to try and protect users over the years. It also talks about various issues and incidents, their impact and what users should do to try and mitigate those things. There are also sections on personal safety and lost and stolen phones. I really hope this is useful for people!