UK based magic4 aims to reduce the increasing number of mobile phone theft incidents by means of SMS technology that allows owners to remotely disable stolen handsets.

If you've ever lost your mobile phone or had it stolen from you, you're probably familiar with the symptoms; withdrawals, the shock of losing something you probably paid a lot of money for, fear of someone prank calling grandma - and most importantly, racking up international calls. To combat the alarming growth in mobile phone theft, UK based magic4 is now developing what the company calls Phoneguard - a mobile application designed to remotely disable stolen handsets, rendering them immediately unusable by the thief.


The Nokia 8310 probably ranks high on thieves' wish lists

Simon Wilkinson, CEO of magic4 said: "Almost half a million teenagers aged between 11 and 15 have fallen victim to mobile phone theft and the industry is facing calls from the police, consumers and government to tighten up security and arrest this trend. Magic4’s Phoneguard technology is being developed with the aim of not only making stolen phones useless but, perhaps more importantly, to provide the deterrent to stop the initial, traumatic theft."

Phoneguard, in development at magic4 since Q3 2001, sends a specifically encrypted SMS message that immediately disables the mobile phone - in a similar way to operator SIM blocking we see today.

For example, a handset is stolen and the user notifies the operator, who then blocks the SIM card. Should a new SIM card be placed in that stolen phone, the handset will send an SMS to the operator containing data such as the serial number for the inserted SIM, country code, network code and even Cell ID. The operator can then decide to send a ‘kill’ message or can track the phone. If the phone is recovered, the disable command can be simply rescinded.

According to magic4, Phoneguard has already received interest from operators and handset manufacturers and is due for commercial launch in 2002 - and if everything works out like you're supposed to, you never have to fear having a stolen mobile phone abused again.
 

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