Apple has agreed to install a 'kill switch' on its iPhones that will make snatched devices worthless. The tech giant announced a change in the settings on its phones worldwide following a campaign led by Britain's top policeman and backed by the Daily Mail. It allows the devices to be shut down and rendered unsellable.
The booming trade in stolen phones has been dealt a huge blow thanks to a high-tech advance. Apple has agreed to install a ' kill switch ' that will make snatched devices worthless.
The tech giant announced a change in the settings on its phones worldwide following a campaign led by Britain's top policeman and backed by the Daily Mail. It allows the devices to be shut down and rendered unsellable. The step comes after London became notorious as the global capital of phone theft, with around 200 taken every day.
Now other companies are under pressure to follow suit after Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley announced he was writing to the Home Secretary asking for legislation to force them into making stolen mobiles unusable – thwarting a black market worth more than £50million a year in the UK alone. Police want to build a national register of stolen phones, asking telecoms giants to share data on whether thieves have been able to reconnect devices to sell them on.
Apple is the first tech company to agree to change its security settings globally, switching on anti-theft protection by default to protect users' accounts and personal information. Apple have agreed to launch a kill switch on iPhones after a Daily Mail campaign as thefts soar - with London becoming the phone snatching capital of the world with 200 mobiles stolen a day.
The Daily Mail's investigation uncovered a massive £180million criminal network responsible for half the phone thefts in London which saw at least 62,000 smuggled to Dubai, Hong Kong and China. This prevents thieves from changing passwords to reconnect to a phone network so they can sell on the device. If the stolen handset cannot be reused, it becomes a worthless 'brick'.
To solve the problem, Apple switched on 'stolen device protection' as a default setting for all users in a recent global system update of their phones. This means when users register their phones as 'lost' after they have been stolen – by logging into iCloud.com/find on another device such as a laptop, tablet or someone else's phone – it effectively acts as a kill switch, making the handset useless until the owner re-enters their password.
In a landmark agreement, the Metropolitan Police and Apple will now share data on snatched handsets so the force can track phones and identify whether they reappear in circulation. Since the joint work began to disrupt global criminal networks, Apple has seen a significant reduction in stolen phones being successfully reactivated. Last night, Sir Mark warned criminals: 'Let me be clear to those driving this crime.
'If you are stealing phones in London, your business model is being dismantled piece by piece. 'The technology is catching up with you, and so are we. Our officers are targeting you on the streets, identifying you through intelligence, and shutting down the networks that move stolen devices around the world.
'The risks are rising and the rewards are disappearing. This is no longer easy money.
'We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will put you before the courts. Time is up.
' He told the Daily Mail that the partnership could eradicate the crime which has blighted millions of lives: 'We can strike at the heart of this crime by destroying the business model that sustains it. 'Now the rest of the industry and government must act to finish the job
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