Stolen Air, pending erase

[dollystereo]

Hi,
I got my Macbook air stolen in the train some weeks ago.
Almost instantly after the lost, I activated remote erase.
When I check in my icloud page it says: "pending erase, this mac will be erased when it connects to the internet"
Is it possible they bypassed the erase?
I already claimed for the insurance and got a new model.
Just trying to get info on how realiable is "find my mac"

 

[cyber16]

Did you activate any sort of pass code or the efi password?
If not, it may have been reset, although you cannot now shut off the find my without first disabling the pass code.
What version of ios did you have on it?

 

[Weaselboy]

Is it possible they bypassed the erase?

Yes it is possible. If the thief erased the drive on your Macbook without ever connecting to the Internet the lock you sent would never take effect.

 

[alphaod]

If the computer is wiped before connecting then no, it won't intiate the wipe.

Personally I use FileVault disk encryption and an EFI password. That way they can't really do anything with the computer and I don't have to worry about losing my data.

Obviously I care more about my data than recovering my computer.

 

[dollystereo]

=(
So basically, the find my mac is useless.

 

[mvmanolov]

=(
So basically, the find my mac is useless.

with a somewhat tech savvy thief, then yes. with an idiot its useful!

But as the previous member mentioned, firmware password and FV2 effectively renders the computer useless to a thief. they can't do anything even if they replace the drive with something else, as it won't let them use the boot selector without the password. All my machines have this, and FV2 with a strong password does and excellent job of protecting your data

 

[cyber16]

If you are going to use the efi password or icloud, make sure you have the efi firmware updated and use something other than a four digit pin with efi. Best use a phrase or something on the efi.
The usb teensy board can crack all 10,000 possible 4 digit pin codes within a few days.
And a bus pirate can rewrite the efi firmware within seconds by passing all locks