Correct but the passcode does nothing if the phone is snatched from your hands while you're using it, which happens a lot.. I know three people who've had their phones stolen, all of them were while they had it out in their hands.
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iOS 7's 'Activation Lock' Delivers Cautious Optimism to Officials Concerned Over Mobile Device Thefts
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Correct but the passcode does nothing if the phone is snatched from your hands while you're using it, which happens a lot.. I know three people who've had their phones stolen, all of them were while they had it out in their hands.
I like the measures apple is taking in regards to security.
But I can't help but think that there is going to be a way to circumvent this almost immediately after iOS7 is released.
Maybe someone will be able to find this. But unlike jailbreaking, which seems to be entirely legal if you do it with your own device, doing so would be purely criminal, which means they'll come after you if you develop some circumvention for this.
I like the measures apple is taking in regards to security.
But I can't help but think that there is going to be a way to circumvent this almost immediately after iOS7 is released.
Right now we have two types of theives to worry about opportunistic and career. Today if you find an iphone laying about, with little more than a DFU you have a blank phone that retains all(most?) resale value. If you found a few hundred dollars lying around it might be hard to turn it up, but that will all change with an activation lock.
By creating an activation lock you drastically reduce the oppotunistic value of the iphone. If a random person finds a iphone laying about there is a high risk that it will have a drastically reduced resale value over what they have today. Rather than an easy cash resale on CL or ebay the cash value is risky and you could part it out, but that means holding on to it which increases the risk as well.
This doesn't stop a career criminal who can and will assault you for the password, but that is a level that you would never be able to stop until the carriers intervene, this at least tips the scale dramatically in the favor of the rightful owner. It is unlikely that this will turn opportunistic thieves into criminals that would assault you.
So do I now need to notify Apple whenever I intend to sell my iPhone?
No what happens is when you sell the phone you disable location for your phone, and after you will be able to restore it
This is what I was trying to say earlier. It may indeed help in the cases of crimes of opportunity. I for one hear more cases like that than grabbed-out-of-hand or at knife/gunpoint. I don't want to live in a place where the latter is common. But I can definitely see it helping when the "finders keepers" kind of person finds it.
Michael
Since none of us know how this feature is being implemented, none of us can say how it might be defeated. Since it is a software feature it seems to me that special chips are not being used. Also, since it is a software feature, I'm pretty sure that someone will figure a way around it. But it is a start and when holes in the security are found they can be plugged. Just as I notice that jail breaking seems to be taking longer with each new phone and iOS.
The tie to 'Find my iPhone' is very likely to be the device's IMEI number, not the user's Apple ID (though that record will *also* be tied to the Apple ID in use when it was added to 'Find my iPhone'). So, when it gets reset, but before it can be activated, it checks for that reference.
If that reference is found, you have to enter the password for the Apple ID that added the phone to 'Find my iPhone' before you can progress. If no reference is found, there's no need for a password at all.
Note: I can be pretty danged sure of this because step '4' in your scenario has already been tested by other users, and at that stage the *phone* has no idea what Apple ID it may have been associated with in the past.
You need to study a little history. At one time, in England, getting caught picking a pocket would get you a public hanging. The most popular place for pickpockets to work was public hangings. No deterrent at all.
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In my case, you would also need to have the secondary device to which Apple will send the security code that I will then have to enter to verify that it is me asking for the information.
Access to the Email address that controls the AppleID is key, however there are many things people can do to make resetting the password much harder, as well as gaining access to controlling the AppleID.
My Apple ID requires Apple's 2-Step to reset the password, as well as gaining access to my Email, requires it's own 2-Step auth. In addition, my Email is not accessible via my iPhone, so if someone was to gain control of my phone while it was unlocked, they wouldn't be able to respond to any Password reset links remotely in the first place.
If people are lazy with their own personal Data security, then the Thieves will have no issues at all. The key to this system working, is for Apple to be 100% sure that people can't bypass the activation lock using 3rd party tools, or other software.
I concur. But it's incredulous to say the thief will be fumbling with your phone trying to change your apple id while running away from you. Now if he snatches and gets into a moving vehicle, you are out of luck. But if he snatches and runs, he's not going to have time to do all that while trying to get away from the scene. I guess it's hard for me to grasp because I have my lock set at 1minute to save battery life.
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Another reason to have a very STRONG and very SECRET password on your iCloud account. Also, don't answer the password reset questions with honest answers that someone could easily find out the answers to.