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Lost iPhone in Iraq returned!

T

Tyco

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2010
9
0
Hey all,

I'm currently deployed in Iraq and just lost my iPhone two days ago! I've pretty much accepted that it's gone for good. I had a LOT of info on that phone. Fortunately I had the passcode set, but I was wondering if it is easy for someone to bypass the code and retrieve all of my data. Have done some googling and it looks like the latest OS has closed some previously found methods of bypassing the code. Should I be worried?
 
If you had a passcode, then you should be safe, especially if you have it wipe data after a certain amount of incorrect passcode inputs. but as long as you have a passcode you most likely won't have to worry. if the terrorists are using their time to hack into an iphone, we are overestimating them
 
I think you're right

I hope they just restore it and wipe all the data away
 
blancoBronco said:
If you had a passcode, then you should be safe, especially if you have it wipe data after a certain amount of incorrect passcode inputs. but as long as you have a passcode you most likely won't have to worry. if the terrorists are using their time to hack into an iphone, we are overestimating them
Click to expand...

Agreed. I've never been to Iraq, but I doubt someone would take the time to hack a passcode. Much more likely they'd restore it and wipe everything.

You never know, though...someone could return it :rolleyes:;)
 
Tyco said:
I hope they just restore it and wipe all the data away
Click to expand...

I don't think this can be done with a passcoded iPhone, well, iTunes wouldn't even recognise my device without me entering my passcode on the device.

Did you lose the device on station?
 
I dunno about that...

Not to worry you, but it has been recently discovered that a fully-patched iPhone 3GS (may also affect the 3G and 1st gen as well) gives up access to its storage partition when plugged into a box running Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) even while the pin is set and enabled on the phone.

To make things worse, not all of the content on the phone is AES-256 encrypted like Apple would like you to believe. Scary.

It would be interesting to see what data is encrypted as you can easily extract phone, SMS and contact information from .db files using something as simple as SQLite Database Browser.

http://marienfeldt.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/iphone-business-security-framework/
 
Tyco said:
Hey all,

I'm currently deployed in Iraq and just lost my iPhone two days ago! I've pretty much accepted that it's gone for good. I had a LOT of info on that phone. Fortunately I had the passcode set, but I was wondering if it is easy for someone to bypass the code and retrieve all of my data. Have done some googling and it looks like the latest OS has closed some previously found methods of bypassing the code. Should I be worried?
Click to expand...

Sorry about your iPhone and by the way thank you for your service.
 
iMouse said:
Not to worry you, but it has been recently discovered that a fully-patched iPhone 3GS (may also affect the 3G and 1st gen as well) gives up access to its storage partition when plugged into a box running Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) even while the pin is set and enabled on the phone.

To make things worse, not all of the content on the phone is AES-256 encrypted like Apple would like you to believe. Scary.

It would be interesting to see what data is encrypted as you can easily extract phone, SMS and contact information from .db files using something as simple as SQLite Database Browser.

http://marienfeldt.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/iphone-business-security-framework/
Click to expand...

Unless somebody is targeting you specifically, no one will bother with it.

Don't worry OP, in fact I'm sure whoever finds it will be quite happy and eager to wipe and delete everything away for the fear of being tracked and discovered and just start using it.
 
Tyco said:
Hey all,

I'm currently deployed in Iraq and just lost my iPhone two days ago! I've pretty much accepted that it's gone for good. I had a LOT of info on that phone. Fortunately I had the passcode set, but I was wondering if it is easy for someone to bypass the code and retrieve all of my data. Have done some googling and it looks like the latest OS has closed some previously found methods of bypassing the code. Should I be worried?
Click to expand...

Man, that really sucks. While I hope you find it, I don't think that it is likely that you will. Don't forget to change any passwords of accounts that you access from your phone. You don't want whoever has it to have access to email, facebook, bank accounts, etc.

Thank you for your service.:)
 
I thought soldiers aren't allowed phones in Iraq. Maybe I heard wrongly. I hope you find it, maybe for future reference, you should enable the setting where it deletes everything after 10 passcode tries when your out in the middle east.

Thanks for your service and hope everything goes well.
 
Tyco said:
Hey all,

I'm currently deployed in Iraq and just lost my iPhone two days ago! I've pretty much accepted that it's gone for good. I had a LOT of info on that phone. Fortunately I had the passcode set, but I was wondering if it is easy for someone to bypass the code and retrieve all of my data. Have done some googling and it looks like the latest OS has closed some previously found methods of bypassing the code. Should I be worried?
Click to expand...

Thank you for your service; I'm sorry about you having lost your iPhone.
 
Hadji is smarter than some of you may think.
Maybe another soldier or contractor stole it, which sucks, but sucks less than baddies getting it.

Wow iraq has changed since we rolled up in 03 and slept in our vehicles. It changed a lot even in that first year. Toward the middle our bat had a cell phone with a looooong wait list that we could use to call home for like 10 mins a week or so. There was no such thing as an iPhone but I was the only person I knew of that planned ahead and brought an iPod 20gb.
I charged that thing off of tanks, generators, wired it into foreign boom boxes, all kinds of stuff. It was in every action I was in, in my pocket. Still have it today and it still works!

Good luck out there man. I'm glad to hear you guys are living with some good comforts. Really bummed to hear you lost an iPhone and hope nothing special gets into the wrong hands.
 
Sorry you lost your iPhone. From one service member to another, thank you!

More for information to those asking why he had an iPhone in Iraq. I was in Afghanistan last year. My boss had an iPhone back in the "world", but once he found out our main base had a few hot spots, he had his wife send it to him. He and I would surf at the hotspots once in a while, he on his iPhone, me on my iPod Touch. Those were much appreciated breaks.
 
Based on what other soldiers have been telling me

that iPhone is gone for good. One of my soldiers even told me that someone stole his underwear out of the dryer!
 
ct2k7 said:
I don't think this can be done with a passcoded iPhone, well, iTunes wouldn't even recognise my device without me entering my passcode on the device.

Did you lose the device on station?
Click to expand...

Lost it on post, left it in the gym
 
EnialusMeliamne said:
Sorry you lost your iPhone. From one service member to another, thank you!

More for information to those asking why he had an iPhone in Iraq. I was in Afghanistan last year. My boss had an iPhone back in the "world", but once he found out our main base had a few hot spots, he had his wife send it to him. He and I would surf at the hotspots once in a while, he on his iPhone, me on my iPod Touch. Those were much appreciated breaks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually had been using it at a couple of wifi hotspot using the Skype app. Had the service disconnected and bought a local Iraqi phone
 
msavwah said:
Hadji is smarter than some of you may think.
Maybe another soldier or contractor stole it, which sucks, but sucks less than baddies getting it.

Wow iraq has changed since we rolled up in 03 and slept in our vehicles. It changed a lot even in that first year. Toward the middle our bat had a cell phone with a looooong wait list that we could use to call home for like 10 mins a week or so. There was no such thing as an iPhone but I was the only person I knew of that planned ahead and brought an iPod 20gb.
I charged that thing off of tanks, generators, wired it into foreign boom boxes, all kinds of stuff. It was in every action I was in, in my pocket. Still have it today and it still works!

Good luck out there man. I'm glad to hear you guys are living with some good comforts. Really bummed to hear you lost an iPhone and hope nothing special gets into the wrong hands.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about, although I figure it probably makes more sense for them to just wipe it and sell it on the black market. Iraq has indeed changed a lot since I was last here in 2004. Lot of creature comforts for Fobbits like myself, place still sucks though.
 
Lost iPhone in Iraq returned!

One of the contractors at the gym returned it today....although it appears that someone had tried the passcode and locked the iPhone. I'm just really happy to get it back....probably going to give the guy who "found" it a little dough. Should I still be worried that they hacked their way in there? :D
 
Great to hear it! Most likely the person tried to unlock it just to see if he could figure out whose phone it is, so I wouldn't worry about someone having gotten your information. Plus, if it was the type of person that would do that, I'd imagine they wouldn't have returned it to you. But, if you want to be paranoid, change the passcode and any passwords that were stored on it.
 
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