Cell phone theft: why do criminals use aluminum foil to wrap the device? | smartphone | Faraday | Internet

“Aluminum foil can leave a mobile phone practically mute,” Panda Security’s global consumer operations manager, Hervé Lambert, confirmed to Europa Press. “It’s basic physics. The aluminum conducts electricity, and when completely wrapped around, the device acts as a rudimentary Faraday cage that dims or blocks the mobile network, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth.”

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The Faraday cage refers to a protective metal box with the ability to block electromagnetic signals, which was invented in 1836 by the British scientist Michael Faraday. An example of this today is the microwave.

This homemade way of preventing smartphones from transmitting signals has become known following the celebration of the eighth edition of the Pirata Beach Festival, in Gandía, after the Police Intervention Unit identified a person with a dozen mobile phones wrapped in aluminum foil, as reported by the newspaper Levante.

However, Lambert explains that, although effective, a cage made with this material is not infallible: “An opening, a poorly made fold or a single layer can allow leaks, especially in areas with good coverage,” he says.

It also does not destroy the location system, which means that “as soon as the thief removes the packaging, opens the bag, turns on the device or the shielding fails, the device can reconnect and execute pending orders.”

Faced with the possibility of recovering the stolen mobile phone, the cybersecurity expert indicates that what you have to do is report the theft to the authorities with the IMEI number, block the phone’s SIM or eSIM card and maintain the Google or Apple account, because this hinders its resale and enables protections such as activation blocking.

“Aluminum foil can buy the criminal time, but it can also work against him as soon as the cell phone starts broadcasting again,” Lambert added.