Anti theft - anti flash

[Veruvir]

Hey.
I had a galaxy note stolen.
Samsung locate doesn't work. Presumably because they took 5 seconds to Google 'hardware reset'.
I lost a CSL spice, I installed avast anti theft which will reinstall itself if the unscrupulous phone finder decides they want to turn my phone into their phone with a hardware reset.
First, they could just flash it and put on a whole new os wiping the partition that avast cleverly hides in.
Second, even if they weren't that clever, in order for you to lock and track the phone avast uses your sim card to do this. So you see "sms the lock code/sms the track code" - of course if you are stealing this phone, you aren't leaving the original owners sim card are you.....

So, my question/proposition.

Is there a way to password lock flashing of the phone?
Is there a hardware Id that can be used to identify phones which an anti theft program can look for being broadcast when a thief flashes and then uses the phone?

" Eg. New simcard registered to phone hardware number *****..... Oh wait that is stolen. "

Plus I now have my phone on a chain....

 

[Rxpert83]

The anti theft had an option to lock down the phone if a new sim card was inserted.

 

[Veruvir]

But since they don't have my simcard in they only have a dead phone, and my message about where to take my lost phone will not get through. If they are nice, they leave it in and it is all good, but if they aren't nice, they will not, they will never receive my avast message (because they probably threw my sim in a bush). So their next action will be hardware reset, works for Samsung locate, but not for avast anti theft. So they get the locked screen again. Then they take it to a phone/pc geek who tells them to flash it.
Since this removes everything and installs a new OS, avast (hidden on the partition) is gone, and useless.
So, the logical engineering lesson is-

Password lock flashing.

But how... Any software experts/designers in? Solve phone theft in one fell swoop.

 

[D-U-R-X]

You should report it to your network provider - they will lock the IMEI of the phone, so it is unusable (even if they put a different SIM card in it)!

 

[Veruvir]

That sounds like info every phone user should be told in the first place. I will add one thing, how can Vodafone lock a phone if they are on an O2 network?
Or if my phone is stolen in Malaysia, how would your original provider access a phone in another country and on the thief new network provider?

Doesn't seem like there's that much cooperation to that degree. Otherwise an anti theft program or the network provider would tell you about this service to stop phone theft all together.

This, I can tell you is the first I've heard of this.

 

[D-U-R-X]

Each phone has a unique IMEI number. When you report your phone stolen/lost, the network provider will then block that number. Blocking it is similar to locking it (it will mean that the phone is no longer usable on ANY network)... it is not network specific, but phone specific.

I am not 100%, but I think that a blcoked IMEI number will not work in other countries either. It is possible for the technically minded to change an IMEI number so that the phone is working again, however this is illegal (so obviously punishable by law).

I have lost a phone before - I had to report it to the police (so that I had a reference for the loss) and then told my network (who asked for the loss reference) - this was so they know that the person reporting the phone as lost is not lying (commiting fraud). They then locked the IMEI number, meaning that the phone is no longer useable as a phone (it can still be used as an MP3 player/to access the net over WIFI, but it cannot make phone calls - the whole point of a phone).

I do not believe that this is something new... I reported a phone as lost a couple of years ago and went through the procedure. Perhaps it is not something that is done in all countries, but I would have thought that it was. Your best bet would be to speak to your network and explain the situation to them... you will then find out if you can get the IMEI blocked or not.

 

[Veruvir]

Too late. Lost the IMEI and bought a new phone. I then lost it, it suffering the same fate as the last one. So I bought a new one... A new note. This time I intend to do my utmost to solve the issue. I'm looking to speak to Samsung developers and and software developers so that they can either require a password for flashing the device, and or using a hardware Id to access Google play or a network, so if reported lost, it can be traced and locked based on any sim being in place rather than just the original users. That's what I would like to see changed.
So that everyone knows a phone can't be stolen. Making it unusable when reported stolen, and having new buyers noting and saving crucial info when they buy it, not finding out after its stolen.
Long shot, but maybe it's doable.