Attempt to cut down on cell phone thefts

This week's discussion was brought to mind by some discussion on my weekly forum posting in my Management of Information Security Class.  During this discussion I was reminded of something I had just caught the tail end of on the news a month or so ago, or it seemed anyway.  Come to find out, it looks like it was back in April, but I still find it interesting.  I suppose it was probably brought to the forefront of my mind again as my daughter lost her phone about a week ago, we did find it, she left it on the roof of the car when I she got in after class one rainy day last week.  That phone stayed on top of the car for about five miles and three turns.  When we finally realized it was gone, we retraced our steps, and found it about a block from the end of our trip, of course we started at the beginning to retrace our steps.  Anyway, she has a Samsung Galaxy SII and has been singing its praises.  All the phone ended up with was a cracked glass.  It probably wouldn't have cracked had it not been laying on top of a rock and been run over at least once.  Other than that, it works great!  So, anyway, onto the discussion about cutting down on the thefts of cell phones.

Both the piece I read, "FCC, Cellphone Companies Work Together to deter Cellphone Theft" mentioned that cellphone theft has not only increased, but has become an increasingly violent crime.  The FCC and cellphone companies have now come together and began to work together to make it more difficult to use a stolen cellphone.

The parties have agreed to establish a database that will allow stolen phones to be shut off based on an IMEI number.  These numbes are unique to cellphones, much like automobile VIN numbers.  By using the database, carriers will have the ability to permanently block a cell phone that has been reported stolen from being activated on the network.

The goal of this agreement is to make a stolen cell phone worthless.  New York Senator Charles Schumer is also working on a bill that will make the tampering of an IMEI number a federal crime.

With the increased use of smart phones, there has been an increase in the number of thefts, with thefts occurring in schools, during rush hour, in broad daylight; thefts occurring outside the norm.

At this time it is fairly easy to use a stolen cell phone.  The SIM card is usually disabled in a stolen cell phone, but is simple enough to get a new SIM card and reactivate the stolen phone.  This ease has assisted the growth of a black market for stolen cell phones.

It is nice to see the Government and the providers working together to try to decrease these thefts.  I have had one cell phone stolen and lost another.  I don't know if anyone decided to try to use them, don't care.  The biggest thing was the disruption caused by not having the phone.  I think the more we rely on our smartphones, and the smarter they become, the more personal information they are going to have, so I don't know if targeting this one issue of the theft is the way to go about it, but at least it is a start.  I never realized, until I saw some of the recorded thefts on the news, how violent thieves have become when attempting to steal a cell phone, it would be nice to have some of that violence reduced as well.  If the phones cannot be utilized after they are stolen, there will be a decrease in the violent thefts.

Newsroom, W. (2012, April 10). FCC, Cellphone Companies Work Toether to Deter Cellphone Theft. WNYC News, pp. http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2012/apr/10/fcc-cellphone-companies-work-together-stop-cellphone-theft/.