Phone thwarts thieves by learning its owner's habits

[Nipuna]

Who's on the phone? (Image: Jasper James/Getty)

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THE way you use your smartphone is unique. By using software to profile how, where and when you use it, your phone may lock up if it looks like someone else has got hold of it.

Mike Just and colleagues at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK, created software that monitors which cellphone towers the owner is normally nearby, which Wi-Fi networks are in their vicinity, which apps they use and when they access them. The system also measures noise and light levels via the phone's microphone and light sensor, to learn what environmental patterns are particular to the device's owner (arxiv.org/abs/1410.7743).

"Your phone's loaded with sensors that can sense its environment and sense your behaviour," says Just.

It takes just over a week on average for the phone to model its user's behaviour and establish a profile of their activity. It then switches to a protective mode. Minor deviations from the norm are acceptable, but if the software detects big changes in how the phone is being used, the device demands a password.

During tests, the team found that if someone took the device to an unfamiliar location and began using it in a different way, the software requested a password within 3 minutes.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Smartphone can identify you from how you use it"