Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I wouldn't be so sure. How long has it be since anyone has been about to by-pass Apple's carrier lock using software? Two years?


Well Musclenerd gave up and stopped trying, let's not forget that Gevey became the standard, although it's not software and a hassle to operate at times but it did offer an unlock solution. For something as significant as bypassing Activation Lock i'm sure plenty of coders and skilled organized criminals that buy stolen iDevices in bulk will jump on board for a bypass fix. It'll be a huge blow for Apple if such thing happens specially if it's hardware oriented that tricks the phone while booting. Anyway time will tell!
 
I view it as a gateway test for Apple to push the expansion of handsets in government positions. Good business move if it has sound security.
 
Be prepared!!!!!

We can expect people posting youtube videos-

how to destroy an iphone in different ways! People will start making money through social audience by destroying them or showing some sort of collection.lol!:d;)
 
Well Musclenerd gave up and stopped trying, let's not forget that Gevey became the standard, although it's not software and a hassle to operate at times but it did offer an unlock solution. For something as significant as bypassing Activation Lock i'm sure plenty of coders and skilled organized criminals that buy stolen iDevices in bulk will jump on board for a bypass fix. It'll be a huge blow for Apple if such thing happens specially if it's hardware oriented that tricks the phone while booting. Anyway time will tell!

As far as I know, gevey only works if you preserve some old baseband (modem firmware). In other words, Apple have been successfully patching up the security holes with software update. Sure, I understand never say never. But Apple only needs to make it hard enough that they'll steal something else instead.
 
So let's say the following happens: you go out shopping at a few places and then drive home. During the drive home, the phone slips out of your pocket and slides between the seat and console. You go inside your house, only to discover you can't find your phone. You think you may have left it at a certain store because that was the last time you remember seeing it. You go to the store and can't find it and no one has turned it in. Now you're convinced someone has stolen it. You have apple throw the "kill switch" and the phone is now dead. Later that night you find the phone in your car. It is permanently disabled. Who pays for a new phone? I bet almost everyone would expect apple to replace the phone for free.

In that scenario, you simply turn on the "find my iPhone" feature on your iCloud page and find out it's somewhere in your car. It's quite simple, really.
 
Yes.

There are techniques that depend on strong encryption of everything, including the routing information. It can be done.

I'm sure that this discussion has been thrown around a lot on here, and I've contributed to a few, but nothing is ever totally secure. If they want it, they'll get it, either by remote access, transmission snooping, or at worst, physical removal of said device.

Now that's not to say it's practically impenetrable in day to day use for the average law abiding persons. That's quite a tenable statement.

The biggest flaw with encryption usually isn't the decryption of raw data but failures in passwords, thus allowing access to the decryption key. Encryption across devices always requires two complicit devices on either end -- one of which can be compromised. That still speaks nothing of your ISP -- they know what you sent out and to where. Your packets may be encrypted, preventing immediate sniffing, but at some point in the outbound cycle they have to be decrypted and sent around plain as day. That could be on the end node of your proxy and/or VPN, or on some third party service that comprises the remote terminal or service.

Now, if you were store files on your computer or device that were encrypted, and never discussed or transmitted (upload or download) them online? Then yes, it would be possible to effectively keep them hidden, from a practical point of view, unless you became a person of interest.

Now, how does this translate into iPhone locking? There will always be holes and flaws when money is to be made. Expect a constant cat and mouse battle over security, like most everything else electronic.
 
Couldn't the thief just jalibreak the phone or put it DFU mode or something?

No... that's the point of it

----------

So let's say the following happens: you go out shopping at a few places and then drive home. During the drive home, the phone slips out of your pocket and slides between the seat and console. You go inside your house, only to discover you can't find your phone. You think you may have left it at a certain store because that was the last time you remember seeing it. You go to the store and can't find it and no one has turned it in. Now you're convinced someone has stolen it. You have apple throw the "kill switch" and the phone is now dead. Later that night you find the phone in your car. It is permanently disabled. Who pays for a new phone? I bet almost everyone would expect apple to replace the phone for free.

You would for no researching how find your iPhone works.
 
MOD NOTE: Please try to keep to the topic at hand, and remember the rules.

Threads and posts on controversial political, religious, and social issues are to be limited to the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum, and made only by those eligible for that forum.

If you want to take the thread to more general political talk, please start a new thread in PRSI.

B
 
I'm testing iOS 7 on my iPhone. I successfully bypassed the activation lock by putting my phone into DFU mode. This was done on beta 2. I have not tried it on beta 3 yet.
 
I'm testing iOS 7 on my iPhone. I successfully bypassed the activation lock by putting my phone into DFU mode. This was done on beta 2. I have not tried it on beta 3 yet.

That's because you did it wrong. Try again. Make sure find my iPhone AND activation lock are activated before wiping/resetting.
 
Yes there is. If you spring for AppleCare+ ($99 for 2 years.)

Learn more - http://www.apple.com/support/products/iphone.html

AppleCare+ is an (extended) warranty. If you have that, then it is under warranty.

In any event, I think officially you can't do 'paid replacements', but In the past I've heard of it happening. I recall from memory reading not too long ago that is a practice they were trying to stamp out.
 
Results of the testing won't be released until Friday:

The group was expected to release the results of their efforts late Thursday, but a spokesperson for the District Attorney's Office indicated late Thursday results would not be released until Friday.
Updated at 6 p.m. PT with a spokesperson telling CNET that the results will not be released until Friday.
 
So I take it a DFU Restore does not bypass the lock (otherwise it would already be broken)? That is good news.

Quite surprising really.

It doesn't. I gave my phone to a friend who went abroad (network unlocked) so I had to downgrade it to iOS 6 using DFU restore before I would give it to him. When activating it, it was asking first to enter email and pasword of the owner who had previsously activated the phone. I was a bit suprised because I thought this would be the case only if the phone was on a lost mode. It is really good.
 
I think activation lock is going to backfire, in that a lot of people who are legitimately trying to sell or pass on their iDevices won't know to disable the activation lock before doing so, and a lot of new owners who legitimately bought or was gifted used iDevices are going to get stuck with bricked devices. Genius bars, Apple Care, Apple Support Forum, and user forums like this one are going to be flooded with calls of "Help! My newly bought/gifted used iDevice is asking me for a password. What do I do???"


Well, that's pretty simple. Instead of calling forums, genius bars etc... why don't you call the person who sold/gifted you the phone and ask him/her to activate it?? The message on the phone when you activate it, from what i saw on my test is pretty clear and easy to understand.
 
Well, that's pretty simple. Instead of calling forums, genius bars etc... why don't you call the person who sold/gifted you the phone and ask him/her to activate it?? The message on the phone when you activate it, from what i saw on my test is pretty clear and easy to understand.

Clear? Easy to understand? Maybe to someone who knows about the activation lock feature. To someone who doesn't know, that message is cryptic and hard to understand.

"Sign in with the Apple ID that was used to set up this iPhone."

"But what? I haven't setup this iPhone yet! What Apple ID?"

And there is no guarantee that the current owner can recognize that the truncated email address that shows up belongs to the previous owner. Many people have multiple emails, so the email that is used for Apple ID is not necessarily the same as the one used for corresponding with other people.

There's already been cases of people posting in the iOS 7 subforum asking for help with getting past the activation lock. Believe me, once iOS 7 goes into general release, there will be a flood of threads asking for help.
 
This is either a really smart move by Apple/late to the game, or a totally dumb move....

Governments know nothing about security, Its the reason why they keep infecting themselves constantly,

I pose a suggestion, give it to the NSA... Thats a true test.
 
I wonder why these politicians are so motivated to make sure this system works. Are they afraid that people find out about the illegal deals, dirty schemes and immoral lobbying stored on their stolen phones?
 
Title should be: Government Officials Bring in Security Experts to Request their Backdoor to iOS 7's Activation Lock Feature
 
[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


After launching an investigation into the anti-theft practices of smartphone manufacturers like Apple, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will today test how Apple's Activation Lock feature holds up against determined thieves, reports CNET.

First introduced at WWDC, Activation Lock is designed to prevent Find My iPhone from being deactivated, which keeps stolen iPhones from being wiped and reactivated. The feature is included in iOS 7, which is expected to be released to consumers this fall.

Gascón and Schneiderman are planning to bring in security experts from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center to attempt to bypass Activation Lock in order to gain access to an iPhone. The security team will also test the Lojack for Android software on a Samsung Galaxy S4.The two officials have pushed for greater anti-theft measures from cell phone manufacturers after a spike in mobile device thefts. While carriers agreed last year to develop a centralized database to track stolen phones, it has proven to be largely ineffectual. Both Gascón and Schneiderman have stated that they believe Activation Lock is an inadequate theft deterrent and Gascón has urged Apple to implement a "kill switch" that would permanently disable stolen iOS devices.

The results of the Activation Lock investigation are expected to be released later today.

Article Link: Government Officials Bring in Security Experts to Test iOS 7's Activation Lock Feature

i love this feature, being a victim of phone theft where find my iphone did nothing.. i am hopeful this will help people in the future.. and possibly decrease crime..

also, passcode your phones people! you're data is precious as well.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.