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You are arguing that the thief has access to your email via the stolen phone. That I can agree with. But it's the users fault for not setting up a simple pass code lock. just my opinion. A device that has your whole life should be protected by a at least 4 clicks.

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.
 
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.
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
 
No if the iPhone is stolen, and the user doesn't realise it before the thief has restored the iPhone with a new IPSW, that this feature can't be used effectively.

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.
 
Every mobile phone has an IMEI, but AFAIK it always was possible to change it, I'm told.

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And what prevents the thief to change AppleID on the stolen iPhone to his own? List of steps:

1) Steal an iphone
2) Quickly change AppleID on the phone to your own
4) Reset the phone

Now the rightful owner has no control over the phone.

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.
 
Stealing iPhone will result in sentence to death. Problem solved.

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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so i am missing nothing then.. to circumvent this theft protection all one has to do is change the victims apple id password before they have a chance to lock the device.

it takes about 30 seconds to change an apple id password..

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.
 
i just tried it, to reset my password it sent a link to my email.. i entered new password, done. it never asked me for my security questions nor my birthdate.

the key here is having access to the persons email, if you do, all of the other security measures are bypassed. you're not trying to log in with a unknown device.. and if asked for the birthdate just open the persons facebook app.

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.

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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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.
 
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