At the CTIA trade show, LoJack had announced that its mobile security software will be launching soon for Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S4 that will help users recover a lost or stolen phone.
The difference between LoJack’s solution versus others on the market–like Apple’s popular Find My Phone for iPhone and iPad devices–is that LoJack will continue to work in the background even if the phone has been wiped to factory conditions.
Other solutions will only lock and remotely wipe a smartphone clean of sensitive data and content in an event of loss or theft, and if a thief does a factory reset then the phone cannot be traced with those other apps or services. Not so with LoJack.
Given the number of smartphone thefts in recent years, and the increase in violent thefts, this solution could help deter thieves.
Most recently, New York had criticized smartphone-makers like Apple and Samsung from not doing enough to prevent thefts and that these tech companies are complicit in the thefts themselves as they benefit since victims would have to buy another phone to replace the one that was stolen. However, the Samsung and LoJack partnership shows that Samsung is demonstrating initiative in helping its customers.
According to Asolute, the company behind LoJack, the software does the following functions:
- Protect personal and business information
- Receive alerts before a security incident can occur
- Maintain compliance with corporate and government regulations
- Investigate security incidents, identify risks, and recover stolen devices
The LoJack software itself is embedded into the firmware of the Galaxy S4, which will be enabled via a firmware update in the near future. This allows the software to continue running even if the device is restored to factory conditions. Users will have to pay a monthly fee or annual subscription of $30.
The software is part of Samsung’s push into the enterprise and government sector and is bundled as part of the Samsung Knox security suite that allows a lost or stolen device to be remotely wiped clean.
Knox and LoJack is scheduled to arrive this summer. The service will initially be available on the Galaxy S4 and may extend to other Samsung devices in the future.
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