Integrated Phone Locator (IPL): Lost Mobile Phone Tracking and Recovery Designs Newton Lwanga Makerere University College of Computing & Informatics Sciences Kampala, Uganda
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Abstract. Having your smartphone stolen is one of the most frightening experiences in this mobile age. No one plans to lose their mobile devices, but it happens. It is expensive to replace and puts user’s important information at risk. Mobile devices/Smartphones are small and portable, users always move along with them everywhere they go and very often they tend to pay little attention to them as they carry along with them and hence become targets for thieves. The goal of this paper was to investigate and propose a design mechanism which we called Integrated Phone Locator (IPL) aimed at achieving an all-time active anti-theft phone tracking capability on mobile devices, either on or off, online or offline. The paper explores various anti-theft designs in mobile devices and applications currently offered by the industry and identifies areas for improvements.
KEY WORDS: Mobile Devices, Smartphones, Mobile Security, Tracking
1
Introduction
In Uganda, Uganda police reported that between January and June 2014, over 5,287 mobile phones were stolen and 4,027 were stolen in 2015 [1]. Losing a smartphone can be expensive and put user’s important information at risk, such as contact information, personal information, pictures, business and financial data. Nowadays, smartphone users can email, video call, use social networking applications, and online shopping among others. Besides, Smart phones compared to traditional cell phones are more luxurious, sophisticated and thus more expensive. These functions and features, have made smart phone users a target for phone thieves. [1] All the pointers suggest that mobile phone thefts are driving the robbery figures upwards and making the increase in robbery greater than it would otherwise be. The goal of this research was to investigate and propose design mechanisms aimed at achieving an all-time active tracking capability on mobile devices (either on or off, online or offline), and allow remote user access into their devices.
This paper is organized as follows: In this section, we gave an introduction to the Integrated Phone Locator (IPL) a design approach for mobile anti-theft, Section 2 addresses the literature reviewed, Section 3 discusses the methods and Section 4 shares the results of implementing IPL and section 5 concludes.
2
Related work
[13] Reviews on Anti-theft designs relating to mobile phones proposed ideas such as: (1) Fixed-location handsets. To avoid mobile phone snatching this proposes developing mobile phones that can be fixed to a particular location rather than by just carried by an individual in their pockets or palms. The attachment could be via a simple chain such that a thief cannot run away with the phone. (2) Grip-phone. This proposes improvement in the ergonomic design of phone handsets in ways that facilitate safe carrying by users. A ‘grip phone’ is conceivable, designed to naturally and comfortably interlink with the hand. (3) Wearable phone. This idea was based on the fact that wearable gadgets are becoming increasingly fashionable. The researchers argued that a mobile phone handset that is built into clothing could resist opportunistic and snatch thefts, since it would be difficult to remove, and the owner would be less likely to leave it lying around inadvertently. (4) Possible ‘security kite mark’. The researchers argue that market forces must be considered as an integral part of the phone design process. They believe that if the handset manufacturer and network operator are in need of an incentive to make handsets and operator processes more secure, it is possible that the equivalent of the British Standards Kitemark could be used to identify those handsets/network operator processes that are known to offer the best in security design features at the time of manufacture. They further assert that, such an award gives the manufacturer/network operator a competitive edge. That, the mark could also be a useful means of making consumers aware of security when making purchasing decisions. [2] Was interested in investigating the general security practices of Mobile AntiViruses (MAVs) and their remote flush/reset and lock functions. The paper argues that MAV’s remote locks are not completely reliable as they have some faults in their implementation. [2] Further asserts that all MAV locks can be circumvented, and concludes that only inbuilt ant-theft software tools can reliably guarantee anti-theft mechanisms. [3] Proposes development of an application which tracks the mobiles location aimed at providing a simple way-out for ensuring children’s safety while they are on their own. It marks certain zones as safe and unsafe for the child to be alone which are divided into three priority regions. The priority regions are safe, risky and highly risky. So if the mobile’s location co-ordinates are found breaching the priority zones, an alert message is sent to the number which is registered for receiving the alert message. The application would provide the ability to divide interested geo-graphical area into different sub zones (e.g. safe, risky, highly risky etc.) and based on breaching of these zones a different alert message would be sent to registered users. The application would also provide the ability to automatically send a message to registered users with mobile’s current location after user configured time interval. On
geographical boundary breach, the application would warn user in the form of a message with beep so that mobile user would also be well informed about risk associated with their movement. [4] Presents an experimental case study that examines people’s concern for location privacy in comparison with use of location-based services. They argue that even though the perceived usefulness of the two different types of services is the same, location tracking services generate more concern for privacy than positionaware services. Concludes that development emphasis should be given to positionaware services but that location-tracking services have a potential for success if users are given a simple option for turning the location-tracking off. [5] Proposes an Autonomous position detection and tracking system for locating friends and family member’s positions using GPS and standard web technology. The designed system includes a mobile client, a repository, a web client and a map service. With the mobile client component is used to find location and send a Popup SMS to a user when their friends or family members come close. The repository is used to store GPS location details, The map service is used to share map data and the message alert system detects position of the users’ friend or family member and updates on server. Whereas the Data sharing center module is used for sharing Image, Audio, Video and Documents. [6] Proposes development of GPS-GSM based tracking system with google map based monitoring. The system uses GPS and GSM technologies, Atmega microcontroller MAX 232, 16x2 LCD with a software part used for interfacing all the required modules and a web application for client side. The system has GPS which receives the coordinates from the satellites. Real Time Vehicle Tracking System using GSM and GPS Technology- an Antitheft Tracking System [7]. The project designed a theft control system for automobiles to prevent/control their theft. [7] States that the user can send a STATUS message from his cell phone and as soon as the GSM module gets the message, it checks for the user’s authentication and if found to be valid, it will immediately send the details of the locations like the latitude and the longitude using GPS module. So the user can get to know the exact location of the vehicle. At the same time a message will be sent to a personal computer where user can get the exact location of vehicle pointed out on the google maps. [7] The system uses an embedded system based on Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) technology. When the system is installed in the vehicle, an interfacing mobile is also connected to the microcontroller, which is connected to the engine. By reading the signals received by the mobile, one can control the ignition of the engine; say to lock it or to stop the engine immediately.
Examining anti-theft mobile applications Android Devices: [8, 9] Android’s built-in Android Device Manager allows you to track, lock, and wipe lost Android phones and tablets. You must enable this feature on the Android device and activating it to be able to see the location of the device on a map. [8, 9] Android Device Manager will be wiped after a factory reset, a thief can reset the lost device and you won’t be able to track it down. Android Device Manager also won’t monitor a complete history of a lost device’s movements it only fetches the
location of the device when you sign in. However, Android allows for third-party tracking solutions, to be installed onto the devices. Apple iOS Devices: [10, 12] Apple’s “Find My Device” services are integrated into iPhones, and iPads, and Mac computers. They have to be enabled in the device’s iCloud options to be able to track down the device from the iCloud website. It is possible to mark a device as lost, lock it or wipe it remotely. [10, 12] Further states that when you put an iPhone or iPad into “lost mode” iCloud will start tracking its movements over time so you can see a complete history. This function survives a factory reset, so you can track and remotely manage an iPhone or iPad even if the thief resets it. Apple will not activate iPhones and iPads if they are marked as lost. You can also remotely lock an iOS device, the device will immediately shut down and the thief will have to enter a firmware password to boot it. They won’t be able to boot any operating system without the password you set remotely. It also allows to remotely wipe any iOS device of sensitive data stored on them. Windows Mobile Devices: [10] Microsoft’s Windows Phone includes a tracking solution named Find My Phone. Like Google’s Android Device Manager, the Find My Phone feature can be disabled if someone with the phone performs a factory reset Avast Anti-Theft app: [10, 11] Avast Anti-Theft app can be installed onto the system partition if you have root access, so it will survive a factory reset. However, writing a new ROM to the device or re-flashing the original ROM will erase the tracking software. Prey: Prey is a free mobile app for basic tracking [10]. The application must be installed and configured ahead of time. If your device is lost, you can sign into the service’s website to remotely track and lock the device. Cerberus: [10] Cerberus has a diverse set of features that includes locking and resetting your phone, sounding alarms, displaying messages on screen for thieves to read, and it even has access to the front facing camera so you can take a picture of the thief.
Cross examinations We find that almost all these solutions reviewed require that the lost device is powered on and or has a connection to the Internet. All the solutions examined in the literature display the location of the lost device on a google map. Although their reliability varies, some take a position every half hour or so, giving you a rough idea where your phone was, while others report in real-time. Some work only when the phone’s GPS receiver can see satellites. This is somewhat harder if a victim is tracking a device that may be offline or powered off. This paper proposes Integrated Phone Locater which can track a phone either on or off, online or offline. With IPL, we can easily locate a misplaced/stolen phone within a given short rage (5-20 meters) by triggering an alarm using a smart phone remote (SPR). When the phone is not in close range, the user can send SMS messages from a secondary phone to be able to track the phone. The design supports use of short SMS commands to trigger certain activities to the lost device, which queries are processed by the in-built SIM. We can also perform administrative functions on the lost device remotely through the web service function.
3
Methods
We are NOT trying to re-invent the wheel but innovatively marrying previously unrelated technologies to improve the design of mobile devices with better inbuilt anti-theft features. We strongly believe, Smartphone development with anti-theft design in mind will greatly reduce phone theft. We propose Integrated Phone Locator (IPL), which is comprised of five (5) major components working together to provide anti-theft functions to the user, either the phone is on or off online or offline. Integrated Phone Locator (IPL) System Architecture
Figure 1: System architectural layout Smartphone Remote (SPR): It contains a short-range radio transmitter used within a certain range (5–20 meters) of the lost phone. In Figure 2, the remote is synced with the phone, when a button is pushed on the SPR, it sends a radio frequency to a receiver unit in the Smartphone, which triggers a loud alarm on the phone. If the phone had been turned off, it triggers the phone to boot with alarm on. The SPR also signals to the user whether it has either triggered an alarm on the phone or not, by displaying lights green or red for alarm triggered or failed respectively. Secondary phone: The secondary phone is used to send SMS commands to the un-detachable SIM in the lost phone to trigger specific commands, refer to Figure 3. For example a command such as ALARM sent to the un-detachable SIM will trigger the phone to turn on an alarm, RESTART to restart the device when off, SIM NUMBER to request the SIM card number of the SIM currently in the stolen phone, LOCATION to trigger the GPS to send details of the lost phone current location. Functions performed by the Secondary phone include: Alarm: it remotely activates a loud alarm by sending an SMS command of ALARM to the Un-detachable SIM will cause the phone to boot if turned off and or turn on an alarm.
Remote SMS Sending: Remotely trigger phone to send an SMS to another phone. In-case a user forgot the phone somewhere or if the thief is still in close range it triggers an alarm. Remote Restart: Reboot the phone by SMS command, which will trigger an alarm on the phone. SIM-Card-Change Notification: The user can send a command SIM NUMBER to trigger the phone to reply with the phone number of the new SIM card inserted in the phone. Web interface: Refer to Figure 4, this allows the user to have detailed access to the lost phone key functionalities over the web, such as: remote logging, remote listening, lock and erase, rooting, SIM card notification, Location history, and settings change. Functions performed by the Web interface: Remote Listening: Remotely listen into the lost phone’s conversations, audio record and store conversations. This will help the user to track the thief’s activities and location based on the conversations. Video and image capture: Using the web service the victim can trigger the phone to open a phone’s front camera to capture photos or short video of the thief and submit them to the web server. Remote Locator: Remotely locate phone via GPS. Remote Access: ability for a user to gain root access of the lost phone to remotely make changes to the firmware, such as Remote Settings Change, Lock Phone Settings and Remote flashing among others. Remote History: Provide a history of the phone’s GPS locations at particular time intervals. Remote Restart: Reboot the phone from the web interface, which will allow to carryout remote activities on the phone. Storage: The web component allows for storage of audio, image and video recordings to be stored by the system. Receiver: This is an in-built component attached to the smartphone’s circuitry board. It receives and processes the radio frequencies emitted by the transmitter (SPR). Un-detachable SIM: This is also an in-built component attached to the smartphone’s circuitry board (Figure 5), with support for transmission of maps and GPS data. It helps to receive and process SMS commands sent from the secondary phone. It was more like an ordinary detachable SIM with preprogrammed responses, it works handy with the GPS receiver to accomplish user requests from the Secondary phone. When a request such as RESTART, ALARM, SIM Number are sent from the secondary phone, the un-detachable SIM interacts with the internal phone circuitry to fulfil the request, by issuing a restart command on the device or turning on of an alarm. When a location command is sent, the un-detachable SIM requests the GPS receiver to process and submit the current device location to the secondary phone. GPS system: This is a complete GPS tracking system in-built in the phone (Figure 6), with capabilities to connect to a server for further signal analysis in the event of internet connection. This is used for Location Tracking and to provide turn-by-turn directions.
4
Discussion
Integrated Phone Locator (IPL), is a proposed design solution. We strongly believe if implemented can easily help to locate misplaced/stolen phones within a short rage of 5-25 meters by triggering an alarm on the lost phone by use of a smart phone remote (SPR). Send SMS messages from a secondary phone for a device at a faraway distance. This would be possible even when the thief could have turned off the mobile device. The victim does not necessarily need to have internet access to be able to track their lost devices, they can send SMS messages to the lost phone and be able to receive feedback about the current phone location or trigger different actions. Besides, the victims can also use the web interface functionality of IPL to remotely manage their lost devices, such as a detailed history about their devices’ location history, and rooting. Our proposed idea can be adopted by mobile hardware and applications developers and researchers interested in anti-theft security in mobile devices to improve on the tracking and combating phone theft. We recommend that, Mobile phone manufactures and application developers ensure that phone tracking applications are loaded on locations where they can survive system reset and also make it impossible for rooting to modify features of inbuilt tracking software applications. Acknowledgments. We thank Dr. Joyce who challenged us to write a paper of this nature. The process has truly prepared us to transform into solid researchers, it has given us a clear understanding and familiarisation with technical writing etiquettes and has improved our research skills.
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[8] How to Locate Your Lost or Stolen Android Phone (and Wipe if Necessary). (Published 2013, August 14). Retrieved from http://www.howtogeek.com/170276/how-to-locate-yourlost-or-stolen-android-phone-and-wipe-if-necessary/ [9] Android Device Manager. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.android.com/ [10] How to Remotely Track Any Lost Smartphone, Tablet, or PC. (Published 2014, July 14). Retrieved from http://www.howtogeek.com/192949/how-to-remotely-track-any-lostsmartphone-tablet-or-pc/ [11] Avast Anti-Theft. (n.d.). The app that locates your missing Android phone or tablet. Retrieved from https://www.avast.com/anti-theft [12] Find My iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/support/icloud/find-my-iphone-ipad-ipod-mac/ [13]Whitehead, S., Mailley, J., Storer, I., McCardle, J., Torrens, G., & Farrell, G. (2008). In safe hands: a review of mobile phone anti-theft designs. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 14(1), 39-60.
