Had my iPhone 3GS stolen is my data safe?

[Thomasoneill]

I got jumped by three guys outside a bar looking for my girlfriend, I am luckily quite robust and was not hurt too bad. Unfortunately my phone was gone. Took by the attackers or just found by someone else, no one knows.

I didn't have the find my iphone and my best friend who set up my phone in December 2011 set it up using his apple I.D ( am not very iphone savvy). So when logging into icloud it only tracks his phone

I did have a phone lock on it, will they have access to my personal data like pictures, messages and contacts ?

I have blocked the phone and sim will follow shortly when I get my new phone. I've been reading forums and the answers are mixed in being able access data just by plugging it in to a computer.

Any information would be great, am more upset with the idea of them looking at my information then loss of the phone.

Regards

Tom

 

[Mercenary]

If you had a lock on then they wont be able to access anything. They also wont have the inclination to bother trying. They just wanted to sell it no doubt.

Unless your some sort of diplomat who holds world secrets. In which case its in an underground lab being craked open by some high tech genius.

If thats not you, then they have nothing.

In the future, set up find my iphone. Not only can you track it but you can also wipe it remotely.

 

[Thomasoneill]

Thanks for your reply, I posted this as the T mobile call centre told me they would be able to access my information, plus the mixed posts of users accessing data on iphones using different computers with ease.

Why the disparity in peoples answers to this?

I will be downloading the find my iphone app when the new phone arrives.

Small consolation, the three guys got caught and got charged £90 each. Pathetic justice system but at least they didn't get away completely free.

 

[Blorzoga]

I got jumped by three guys outside a bar looking for my girlfriend, I am luckily quite robust and was not hurt too bad. Unfortunately my phone was gone. Took by the attackers or just found by someone else, no one knows.

I didn't have the find my iphone and my best friend who set up my phone in December 2011 set it up using his apple I.D ( am not very iphone savvy). So when logging into icloud it only tracks his phone

I did have a phone lock on it, will they have access to my personal data like pictures, messages and contacts ?

I have blocked the phone and sim will follow shortly when I get my new phone. I've been reading forums and the answers are mixed in being able access data just by plugging it in to a computer.

Any information would be great, am more upset with the idea of them looking at my information then loss of the phone.

Regards

Tom

The most the new "owner" will be able to do without having the passcode will be to restore the phone to factory settings. This will erase all the contents.

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BTW, did you find your girlfriend?

 

[Thomasoneill]

That's great news, don't know what the T mobile advisor was saying, he informed me that cause I didn't upgrade the software they could do it. Well am glad anyways.

The most the new "owner" will be able to do without having the passcode will be to restore the phone to factory settings. This will erase all the contents.

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BTW, did you find your girlfriend?

Yeah I did, told the police take me back to look for her, saw her not too far from the incident trying call me.

Was a good feeling getting back to her. A bit of TLC goes a long way when you have a night like that lol

 

[Tom G.]

Why the disparity in answers?

I'd say because the T-Mobile Rep. was more savvy on other phones that he made a better commission on selling, and therefore did not know how iPhones work, and most likely didn't care all that much.

I've found the same thing to be true with AT&T. Some Reps know iPhones almost as well as an Apple Genius. Others don't like anything Apple and couldn't care less about them.

We have two AT&T stores in town. The new one is all about Samsung, Android and Windows phones, and try to scare you away from Apple. The other one a very small one in a small strip mall is very much Apple. It's the one I normally go to. It also seems to have much more traffic in it.

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

I got jumped by three guys outside a bar looking for my girlfriend, I am luckily quite robust and was not hurt too bad. Unfortunately my phone was gone. Took by the attackers or just found by someone else, no one knows.

I didn't have the find my iphone and my best friend who set up my phone in December 2011 set it up using his apple I.D ( am not very iphone savvy). So when logging into icloud it only tracks his phone

I did have a phone lock on it, will they have access to my personal data like pictures, messages and contacts ?

I have blocked the phone and sim will follow shortly when I get my new phone. I've been reading forums and the answers are mixed in being able access data just by plugging it in to a computer.

Any information would be great, am more upset with the idea of them looking at my information then loss of the phone.

Regards

Tom

This happen in New York?

 

[Thomasoneill]

This happen in New York?

Nope, London.

Hmm well the t mobile rep was nice but he didn't sound too sure of the answer he gave me.

Just gutted though, first phone I've ever lost, prided myself in always being quite careful .. and lucky

 

[darricksailo]

I think they can access your camera roll just by plugging into the computer as long as they have iTunes installed on the computer. It shows up in my "my computer" file browser thing

 

[Thomasoneill]

I think they can access your camera roll just by plugging into the computer as long as they have iTunes installed on the computer. It shows up in my "my computer" file browser thing

Have you registered your iTunes on that computer ? Do you need to unlock your phone first ?

Tom

 

[scaredpoet]

The ability to get into your phone depends on two things: The complexity of your passcode, and the sophistication of the attackers and the equipment they have.

IF you have a short 4-digit passcode, and IF the attackers have sophisticated hardware programmed to guess passcodes, and IF you have the option to wipe the phone after 10 failed attempts turned off, then they MIGHT get into your phone after a while. But those are a lot of ifs, and given what you've described, I doubt they're very sophisticated.

Still: next time you get a smartphone, know its ins and outs well, including how to set it up to track it if lost or stolen, and how to remote wipe if it ever comes to that again.

 

[Nothlit]

I will be downloading the find my iphone app when the new phone arrives.

Note: The "Find My iPhone" app which you can download from the App Store is for tracking OTHER phones on your account. Downloading that app does NOT enable tracking on the phone to which you downloaded it. To configure a phone to be tracked, you turn on Find My iPhone from Settings -> iCloud. No need to download the app unless you need it to track other devices under your same account.

 

[darricksailo]

Have you registered your iTunes on that computer ? Do you need to unlock your phone first ?

Tom

I used my friend's laptop the other day to charge my phone and then I wanted to use iFunbox and redsn0w but since he didn't have iTunes installed yet, I installed iTunes

The second I installed iTunes, it could gain access to my camera roll (as well as redsn0w and iFunBox). Granted I don't remember if it was unlocked at the time but even at my home PC when my phone is locked, I can still access the camera roll on my computer

 

[Thomasoneill]

I used my friend's laptop the other day to charge my phone and then I wanted to use iFunbox and redsn0w but since he didn't have iTunes installed yet, I installed iTunes

The second I installed iTunes, it could gain access to my camera roll (as well as redsn0w and iFunBox). Granted I don't remember if it was unlocked at the time but even at my home PC when my phone is locked, I can still access the camera roll on my computer

Hmm I'm going to have to test this out somehow with the whole iTunes and different computers.

@scaredPoet so your telling me simply that plugging it in to a comp with iTunes will not let them have access to pictures contacts etc. This is my only concern and sorry the only reason this thread is still going on is Darrick here says he can do it.

I know they aren't going be using anything sophisticated and from what I've read 3gs's automatically have the wipe data after ten attempts turned on. I know there never going to break the code and get full access to the phone its..

just the ability import private and personal information just by connecting to a computer. Which any layman could do.

Thanks for all your answers by the way.