14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 7, the new mobile operating system the Redmond-based software giant Microsoft brought to the market last month, comes with a so-called “kill switch,” through which the company can remove certain applications from handsets, in case it considers them as posing security threats. The previous version of the company's mobile platform came with the same feature, and it appears that the new flavor includes it too.
Of course, other mobile operating systems also come with this functionality inside, including Apple's iPhone and Google's Android, as their makers wanted to make sure they can remove any potential malware from handsets if needed.
“We don't really talk about it publicly because the focus is on testing of apps to make sure they're okay, but in the rare event that we need to, we have the tools to take action,” said Todd Biggs, director of product management for Windows Phone Marketplace, pcpro.co.uk reports.
Biggs also notes that, given the fact that the Marketplace is a complex operation, Microsoft needs to make sure that it can handle any type of situations that might appear.
Of course, all applications are intensively tested before being included in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, but there might be cases when the kill switch would have to be used.
According to Biggs, in case an application “goes rogue,” the company has the possibility to react in more than one way.
“We could unpublish it from the catalogue so that it was no longer available, but if it was very rogue then we could remove applications from handsets - we don't want things to go that far, but we could,” Biggs continues.
Moreover, it appears that the kill switch gets activated as soon as the handset accesses the Marketplace as part of routine maintenance.
“From a high-level perspective, phones check in to see if there are any downloads or updates available and it will also check if there are any apps that shouldn't be on there,” Biggs said.
In some cases, the company could even remove the application. No specific info on situations in which the kill switch would be triggered were unveiled, though it appears that security and privacy concerns are those which could set things in motion.