Cyber security advisor, Jake Moore, says that whilst it is difficult to completely disable a mobile phone after theft, there are many measures that can be taken to prevent data being stollen from the device. Mr Moore advises using smartphones’ biometric scanners to access sensitive information on the devices. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00It's actually very difficult, if not impossible, to completely disable a mobile phone because we have such a thriving second-hand market.
00:10And so if we go and completely kill a phone once it's been stolen, it then can't be used for other genuine purposes,
00:19such as, say, giving your phone once you've used it for its lifespan to your child or to sell it on to someone else.
00:27And so although it sounds good in theory, this, let's call it a backdoor, enables criminals to also use the same door to access the criminal underworld.
00:38So it's really good straight away to have a code that no one else knows about.
00:43And you don't go and type in the code to that phone in a crowded place, because that's where so many of these criminals will operate,
00:50hoping that you might type in the code to open the phone or use it for Apple or Google Pay.
00:55But also making sure you do take advantage of the biometrics, such as the fingerprint or the Face ID access,
01:02and not just to open the phone for other apps as well inside.
01:06You might be used to using, say, Face ID to open a banking app, but you can also open up your messages and email as well behind that extra layer.
01:15But also making sure that you have your phone backed up to the cloud.
01:19It's only a few pounds a month to make sure it is backed up.
01:22But then taking advantage of these detection locks.
01:25So Android has one called theft detection lock and then Apple has one called stolen device protection.
01:32And it's really useful to make sure that if your phone is stolen,
01:36things like the codes and adding another fingerprint or face cannot be done unless you are at home or your work,
01:44which are called these frequent locations. And therefore, if your phone is stolen out in a festival or in a bar,
01:51then those criminals can't do that in that first golden hour of opportunity.