Samsung's New Safety Features You Need to Turn On Now

cypac1
Jun 6
2 min read

Happy Friday

Samsung issued a public safety alert this week in an awareness campaign to better protect its users, particularly in the event of a phone theft. There is an enormous gap in awareness about Android's security features and most people have them turned off.

If you or someone you know has a Samsung Galaxy phone, make sure your phone is updated and turn on these new safety features ASAP:

Theft Detection Lock - uses on-device machine learning to detect if your phone has been snatched and instantly locks the screen to block the criminal from being able to use it
Offline Device Lock - locks the device if it's disconnected from the network for an extended period of time (eg. stolen, turned off, then sold on the black market)
Remote Lock - lets you lock your phone remotely using your phone number and a quick verification step

Samsung has also added Galaxy-exclusive features like Identity Check which prompts for biometric authentication if sensitive changes are made to the device's settings in unfamiliar locations, and Security Delay that imposes a 1 hour delay if someone tries to reset biometric data, giving you time to locate and secure your phone.

The Takeaway

Since these features are available on all recent Samsung smartphones, you should really turn them on.

I didn't want to leave you hanging and I didn't want this to be a really long email, so I posted the complete instructions along with pictures on our blog here:

https://www.cypac.com/post/public-safety-alert-from-samsung-for-galaxy-phones

It only takes a couple of minutes and can save you a world of hurt if your phone is lost or stolen.

Stay safe out there.

-Attila

PS. The PBS Insights interview is now available! Man, that show was hot - a lot of people called in with questions. We really tried to get to as many as possible.

I was there with other Cybersecurity experts and network defenders to talk about the latest threats facing our community and what to do about them. Click here to watch.

New - the Positivity Box

We talked about cryptocurrency scams during last week's PBS episode. The Department of Justice recently announced that they had successfully seized more than $868,247 in proceeds from an alleged cryptocurrency confidence scheme HERE IN HAWAII.

We get asked quite often if these scammers are in the US and if they are, if any are local. Well, it's a definite yes and you can read all about it on the DOJ's website.

Kudos to the team at the FBI Honolulu Field Office who are investigating the case. Great job!

New Friday Funnies!