Norton Mobile Security

[PapauZ Norton Fighter]

Hi Everyone,

on the German Norton Forums we had a great question from a user, what happens with NMS if you change a SIM-card in the phone? Does it do anything to the software (like a hardware change in a PC makes many products think it is a different / new machine)?

Or SIM-cards are not related in any way to NMS...

Thanks!

PapauZ

[DistEd2 Super Bot Obliterator Mobile Master (Norton Mobile Users Discussion Forum)]

Hi, PapauZ!

I think the answer to this is a bit up in the air. I'm pretty sure that the intent is for the NMS license to be attached to the phone rather than the SIM, since it's the phone that's "the computing device." But my sense from working with the product and seeing some of the posts here is that there are a couple of "sort of" exceptions to this--one by design and one that's likely a bug:

• By design, there is a feature called "SIM card lock," which is intended to prevent a thief from swapping SIM cards;
• We've seen several cases where it appears that a SIM card being removed (or even the phone just thinking that a SIM card has been removed) has caused the device to lock. Because this is part of the Anti-Theft functionality, though, there's a possibility that this "bug" portion has been fixed in the switch to the new Norton Anti-Theft add-on.

[erik_carlstrom · Accepted solution]

In a different manner then the PC product, the license is not tied to the SIM card.  Your license is tied to the device.  A mobile phone or tablet contain pieces of data that are not dependant upon the SIM card.  We tie off the items that will not change (without very extreme internal hardware modifications). 

[ajhigginsjr]

I purchased a DROID Bionic on 9/11/2011. I down loaded and paid for the full version of Norton Mobile Security. Verizon replaced my phone because the microphone was having problems. According to a DROID forum this is problem that people have experienced with this brand new model (one person in the forum said that they have had 3 so far). Since Norton has tied the license to the phone and not the SIM card, this is very inconvenient if you have to have your phone replaced. How do I get the license that I paid for put on my replacement phone?

[erik_carlstrom]

It depends on if you downloaded from the android market or from our retail download site. If the download site you can redownload and use the same key. If from the android market, you'll need to contact support to obtain a key and download. You can use the http://Norton.com/chat for the easiest path if you downloaded from the android market.

[sundar1301]

Hi,

I just want to understand how Anti-Theft works. Kindly advice.

- If my phone was stolen, i can send the Commands through my Buddies mobile....Am i right?

- What if my phone was stolen, change SIM card and NMS was uninstalled......No more NMS tracking?

Kindly advice.

[Andmike]

Hi sundar1301.

Welcome to the Community.

The best way to find out how it works is probably to download the "Lite" version from the Android Market.  This is free and has many of the features of the full version, Including the ability to lock the phone.

Once you have installed Norton Mobile Security or NMS (called Norton Security and Antivirus on the Android Market) you can activate the Anti-Theft features (which ones depend on whether you have the free or paid version).  When activating Anti-Theft in NMS you set up a password which will allow you to change settings and unlock a locked phone.  Also you have to identify at least two "buddies" who can unlock your phone remotely using an SMS message.  If you think your phone is stolen then you can send a "lock" command from any phone that can send an SMS message the message just needs to be the word "lock" followed by a space and then your password.

If you phone is stolen and the SIM card is changed then, if you have set up the Anti-Theft feature then the phone will lock automatically and await your password or an SMS from you buddy to unlock it.  The thief will have a locked phone with the new SIM card in it.  If he changes the SIM card back it will still be locked.

Does that help?