Korea to mandate smartphone 'kill switch'

South Korea's government has announced that all new smartphones produced locally will have to include a "kill switch" to disable them if lost or stolen. Samsung already includes a kill switch in its Galaxy S5, and LG confirmed that it will add the feature to its new models later this year, Cellular-News reported "This will help users (to safeguard their data) if (the phone is) lost or stolen," said a government official at the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. "Given that smartphones are being used as credit cards, consumers should have this function when they buy new phones," the official added. The USA is also considering a mandatory kill switch, although there are concerns about the implementation, and how to prevent a malicious attack killing all smartphones on a network at once.