Losing a smartphone means so much more than the cost of the device itself – personal and business information, messages, emails, contacts and social networking profiles may all be potentially compromised. When you add banking and shopping apps, the financial costs and associated risks can also escalate significantly.

That’s why we’re pleased to announce that AVG is working with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductors to the mobile industry, to expand the functionality of our applications to include Qualcomm SafeSwitch kill switch technology on devices with select Snapdragon chipsets.

Unlike other anti-theft alternatives, SafeSwitch provides a robust yet reversible kill switch solution that locks the device at the chip level, rendering it unusable and extremely difficult to crack. SafeSwitch also helps protect user privacy by encrypting the device’s storage, making it very difficult for attackers to obtain any personal or privileged information from a stolen device.

Any attempt to replace the SIM card, perform a factory reset or brute force the passcode will lock down the device and render it temporarily unusable. After locking, the device owner can unlock the device and restore it to its pre-locked condition by entering the master passcode.

AVG and Qualcomm conducted a demonstration of the SafeSwitch solution on a device incorporating Qualcomm’s premium-tier Snapdragon 810 chip at the 5th Annual International Cybersecurity conference held in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 22nd -25th, 2015.

Following the conference, AVG and Qualcomm Technologies will continue working together to offer a joint end-to-end commercial solution later this year.