Best anti-theft software?

JimBob1971 wrote:I'm looking to add some anti-theft software onto my N95, Has anyone tried these and discovered the relative pros and cons?

Unfortunately a thief could always perform a hard-reset which formats the internal memory, removes all apps including anti-theft software and also resets the security code (to 12345) and disabled sim-lock features. I would not waste your money on anti-theft apps.

What you could do is find out how much your home insurance company would charge to add your mobile phone to the policy. They are usually much cheaper than the normal mobile insurance policies, but check if you are covered for theft outside the home.

Thanks for the reply Dez, I may just look at the home insurance side of things.

Thats a shame, as 'Guardian' did say it could protect against resets. Mind you, non-pro thiefs would probably not have a clue about resets and if the phone was locked to begin with a reset may not even be possible. (Depends on fast the app could launch on powerup I guess)

Cheers,
James

Insurance is your best option. My home insurer added mine to the policy for free which is a little better than T-Mobiles £6.99 a month! It covers all the same stuff too (theft in or out of the house, airtime abuse etc.)

Quite often you'll find that your home insurance policies have a fairly heavy excess, compared to the mobile networks plans. I'm with More Than, and my phone is covered by them - but there is a �100 excess. If I pay the �6 a month to Orange, then I believe the excess is a mere �15 "processing fee", and I'm also covered for damage to the phone or it going wonky on it's own volition. Home insurance policies dont cover you for equipment generating faults.

JimBob1971 wrote:Thanks for the reply Dez, I may just look at the home insurance side of things.

Thats a shame, as 'Guardian' did say it could protect against resets. Mind you, non-pro thiefs would probably not have a clue about resets and if the phone was locked to begin with a reset may not even be possible. (Depends on fast the app could launch on powerup I guess)

Cheers,
James

Hi James,

I imagine Guardian could protect against a normal reset/bootup sequence but the Nokia hard-reset method completeley erases internal memory and resets all security codes, so the chances are an in-the-know thief could get past the security. Agreed though most thieves would probably give up and chuck it in the nearest bin if Guardian was installed.

D

dez_borders wrote:Unfortunately a thief could always perform a hard-reset which formats the internal memory, removes all apps including anti-theft software and also resets the security code (to 12345) and disabled sim-lock features. I would not waste your money on anti-theft apps.

What you could do is find out how much your home insurance company would charge to add your mobile phone to the policy. They are usually much cheaper than the normal mobile insurance policies, but check if you are covered for theft outside the home.

I have also been looking into Anti Theft software for my E65. I agree with your comments Des but my main concern is that once my phone has been stolen someone will run up a huge phone bill, read my text messages, look at my pictures, diary etc etc therefore I am not really too bothered if they hard reset it.

I havent heard of Secure Genius before can anyone provide me a link? think i'm going to go with Txt2Lock though. Cheaper than most and will just give me that extra bit of piece of mind if the worst does happen.

cheers

If you want to be secure against people running up big bills then make sure Pin code is enabled for Sim Card and that Autolock is enabled so the phone is useless even if they steel it and format it, as a the Sim Card has a pass on it and secondly no one can use it whhen its sitting.

JimBob1971 wrote:Thanks for the reply Dez, I may just look at the home insurance side of things.

Thats a shame, as 'Guardian' did say it could protect against resets. Mind you, non-pro thiefs would probably not have a clue about resets and if the phone was locked to begin with a reset may not even be possible. (Depends on fast the app could launch on powerup I guess)

Cheers,
James

A Hard Reset is done long before the Operating System has loaded, therefore no apps will be running, including anti-theft ones.

I agree though, your average ned will not know how to perform a hard-reset.

All this is largely pointless though. If someone steals your phone, whether or not they can use it, they aren't going to come and return it to you! The only thing you are really covering is the potential airtime abuse between them taking it and you reporting it and having the sim barred.

3Shirts wrote:All this is largely pointless though. If someone steals your phone, whether or not they can use it, they aren't going to come and return it to you! The only thing you are really covering is the potential airtime abuse between them taking it and you reporting it and having the sim barred.

I think people are as much concerned with their private details being compromised - contacts, pics, videos, username/passwords in web cache, etc. as they are about a thief running up a big bill on their SIM/account.

True, anti-theft software would protect that if it forces a hard reset to remove it.

Friend of mine had his phone stolen and the thief started phoning his mates from other phones to abuse them. The thief also sent 'private' pictures of my mate and his girlfriend round and claimed to post them on the Internet. Not a nice situation to be in i imagine....

In this day and age with Identity Fraud on the rise I want to protect myself and keep my information as private as possible hence why I am looking for some anti theft software. To pay between �5-10 for a bit of software that could protect me from �1,000's is worth it in my eyes.

Cheers

shootenanny wrote:Friend of mine had his phone stolen and the thief started phoning his mates from other phones to abuse them. The thief also sent 'private' pictures of my mate and his girlfriend round and claimed to post them on the Internet. Not a nice situation to be in i imagine....

In this day and age with Identity Fraud on the rise I want to protect myself and keep my information as private as possible hence why I am looking for some anti theft software. To pay between £5-10 for a bit of software that could protect me from £1,000's is worth it in my eyes.

Cheers

You could do worse than simply using the N95 inbuilt Security as follows:-

1. Set the security to request unlock code when sim is changed
2. Set SIM to request PIN code when handset rebooted.
3. Set keyboard autolock (requires security code before use).

These 3 functions will give as good anti-theft protection as most available security apps.

4. Encrypt 'private' pics using one of the available 3rd party apps.

Finally, remember that a hard reset disables all security except for the SIM Card PIN request.
Even if you install an anti-theft app, if will not protect you after a hard-reset.

dez_borders wrote:
Even if you install an anti-theft app, if will not protect you after a hard-reset.

I think the main point, though, is that you want to keep personal content and information from the wrong hands and, since a hard reset would also erase this information, you are safe

3Shirts wrote:I think the main point, though, is that you want to keep personal content and information from the wrong hands and, since a hard reset would also erase this information, you are safe

That's what I think, if someone stole my phone, I'd much rather they reformatted it and used it as their own (I'd get the SIM blocked of course), rather than use my info on the phone against me.

If you're "information" is on the memory card, then it doesn't matter about phone locks, pin codes etc... Just pop the card out and in to a reader..

mcsleazycrisps wrote:If you're "information" is on the memory card, then it doesn't matter about phone locks, pin codes etc... Just pop the card out and in to a reader..

Contacts, etc are stored on the internal memory which you would have to clear as part of the hard format. Yes the thief would have your pics but at least he wouldn't know who they belonged to (unless you are famous!)

I guess the simplist way to secure the phone would be like Blackberrys.

You need to type in a password when you turn on, or even use the phone after a certain amount of idle time and if you get the password wrong 10 times in a row it reformats the phone and the memory card.

Fairly simple to write I guess, but would need to keep running in the background.

HoundDog wrote:You need to type in a password when you turn on, or even use the phone after a certain amount of idle time

I know that. Although the phone will be locked your info will still be on the phone and in the wrong hands.

gordslaphead wrote:The N95 already supports both of these functions, although it will not delete the info after several incorrect attempts.

Unfortunately the hard format bypasses all security, and though it formats the internal phone memory it doesnt touch the memory card

Hi there, I agree with the Dez Boders after a hard reset the anti theft software would be removed!

mcsleazycrisps wrote:If you're "information" is on the memory card, then it doesn't matter about phone locks, pin codes etc... Just pop the card out and in to a reader..

Txt2Lock encrypts the memory card as well which is why I wanted to buy that one. Unfortunately they dont support the E65 yet 😞