Mobile security firm Lookout says it’s time to catch those naughty fingers sneaking into personal spaces stealing smartphones — say cheese to a “theftie.”
Theftie is, of course, an unlikely selfie, far from being a gratifying photo of oneself. Rather, it is a photo of the thief taken in utmost secrecy and sent to the real owner of the mobile device.
Theftie comes from the new mobile security feature of Lookout called Theft Alerts, which was announced in a blogpost on May 28.
“Theft Alerts is your peace-of-mind when your phone gets lost or stolen. It provides you with timely and contextual information so you know where your device and data are and what the thief is doing with it,” Lookouts writes in its blog.
The company likewise says it’s another way to help control the alarming phone theft cases and to protect the privacy of the mobile device.
One out of 10 people is said to fall victim to mobile phone theft, the Consumer Reports organization says in a statement. In 2013 alone, an estimate of 3.1 millions of Americans
became phone theft victims, almost double to the recorded 1.6 million theft cases in 2012. Unfortunately, about 1.4 million stolen mobile devices in 2013 were unrecovered by the real owners, slightly up from 1.2 million of similarly unrecovered phones in 2012.
With Theft Alerts, the actions of the thief are taken into account, so the real owner is alerted within minutes and can prepare immediately the necessary actions to recover the phone. Lookout enumerates the actions that would trigger a Theft Alert: passcode entered incorrectly; SIM card is removed; Airplane Mode being enabled; device being turned off; and removing Lookout as device administrator.
“We know, however, that some of these actions are performed regularly by the actual owner of a device, so we also allow you to customize your Theft Alerts experience, turning off the triggers you don’t want to be alerted on,” says Lookout.
There’s no such thing as perfect software or threat alerts, however. For instance, imagine the phone thief at an awkward angle while holding the device. The snapshot may not give you a clear take. Take the case of an unreliable wireless connection as well that could make it difficult for Lookout to send the Threat Alerts.
The Lookout Mobile Security Premium carries the Theft Alerts feature and is offered on both iOS and Android devices for a monthly fee of $2.99 or a yearly fee of $29.99. Existing premium users get first access to such feature. For those who have been Lookout Free users before the announcement, they can get to try the feature for free till September 31, 2014.
Watch Lookout's video on Theft Alerts here:
