83MK
Level 1 (4 points)
iPhone

Q: Concern with safety of data when iphone is lost

My friend had lost his iphone and had set up "Find my iphone" before that happened. So there was nothing to worry about in terms of the safety of the data that was on the lost iphone.

 

I recently bought a new iphone so I decided to play around and experiment. I erased my old iphone via "Find my iPhone" on icloud. As soon as I switched on the old iphone, everything was erased. What a relief! Then I plugged in that very same old iphone onto a desktop with an iphone recovery software and all my photos and contacts etc were recovered! Now I'm questioning the safety of that feature - it's not a foolproof method of ensuring the safety of our data when our phones get lost or stolen is it?

Posted on Jun 8, 2016 1:51 AM

by thunderzzz,Solvedanswer
thunderzzz thunderzzz
Level 6 (8,379 points)
Notebooks
A:

Activation lock and Find My Phone are perfect security mechanisms. Period. None have the access to your device if activation lock is enabled. iPhone becomes a useless brick for theft or person that steals/finds your device.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201472

Posted on Jun 8, 2016 1:55 AM

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83MK

Q: Concern with safety of data when iphone is lost

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  • Helpful answers

  • by thunderzzz,Solvedanswer

    thunderzzz thunderzzz Jun 8, 2016 1:55 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 6 (8,379 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 8, 2016 1:55 AM in response to 83MK

    Activation lock and Find My Phone are perfect security mechanisms. Period. None have the access to your device if activation lock is enabled. iPhone becomes a useless brick for theft or person that steals/finds your device.

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201472

  • by 83MK,

    83MK 83MK Jun 8, 2016 2:12 AM in response to thunderzzz
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 8, 2016 2:12 AM in response to thunderzzz

    Sorry I accidentally clicked solved. I tried it myself and saw all content that was meant to be erased. I used a recovery software. Apologies, I will repost this as I don't want it to be closed.

  • by thunderzzz,

    thunderzzz thunderzzz Jun 8, 2016 2:15 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 6 (8,379 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 8, 2016 2:15 AM in response to 83MK

    I wonder how would you recover data without knowing the owner id to at least unlock the phone?

  • by 83MK,

    83MK 83MK Jun 8, 2016 2:18 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 8, 2016 2:18 AM in response to 83MK

    I erased the old iphone via "Find my iphone" on icloud. Then when I switched on the iphone, it automatically went blank and did the whole erasing procedure. I then plugged in that iphone onto my desktop and clicked on my recovery software. And everything was on there - photos, contacts, etc.

  • by LACAllen,

    LACAllen LACAllen Jun 8, 2016 2:24 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 5 (5,566 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 8, 2016 2:24 AM in response to 83MK

    OK... sounds like you removed the activation lock for yourself.

     

    If you, using iCloud.com, erase the phone and remove it from your account, the phone is now able to be set up for someone else. The fact that you had a backup of your device does not change the effectiveness of find my phone.

     

    If the device was lost or stolen, the finder could not do what you have done. Unless they had your Apple ID, password and access to that backup.

     

    Your data is not safe from yourself!

  • by 83MK,

    83MK 83MK Jun 8, 2016 2:31 AM in response to LACAllen
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 8, 2016 2:31 AM in response to LACAllen

    That last sentence made me giggle. Yes I get what you're saying. Only thing is that I didn't have a backup of this old iphone. So you're right in that it's now possible for someone to use it. I plugged in this iphone onto Tenorshare which had no backup anywhere. And unfortunately, most of my data popped up on the desktop screen when I clicked scan my phone on that recovery software program.

  • by LACAllen,Helpful

    LACAllen LACAllen Jun 10, 2016 3:39 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 5 (5,566 points)
    iCloud
    Jun 10, 2016 3:39 AM in response to 83MK

    Ok... then you are using a 3rd party app to "recover" data on your device.

     

    I am of the thought that your device was not erased correctly. I believe iOS's security is much better than this.

     

    If it were this simple, the various law enforcement communities through the world would not be flummoxed by so many iPhones seemingly "locked" to them.

     

    Must be something else at play here... it sounds like their app will find an iTunes backup. Do you have one on that same PC?

     

    This is from Tenorshare's website...

    Screen Shot 2016-06-08 at 5.47.06 AM.png

  • by 83MK,

    83MK 83MK Jun 10, 2016 3:39 AM in response to LACAllen
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 10, 2016 3:39 AM in response to LACAllen

    Yes I do, that must be it then. Thank you very much for the help. I feel so much more at ease.

  • by Michael Black,

    Michael Black Michael Black Jun 10, 2016 3:54 AM in response to 83MK
    Level 7 (25,306 points)
    Jun 10, 2016 3:54 AM in response to 83MK

    I'D agree that I think what you did was delete the device from your tracked devices in iCloud. That removes activation lock, but does NOT erase the device. If you ever do loose your device or have it stolen, execute a remote erase if you wish to, but never delete the device from your list of tracked devices. As long as it shows in that tracked list in iCloud, then it is activation locked.

     

    Also, if you care about protecting your data, ALWAYS use a screen lock passcode/fingerprint and set the screen to require password immediately after going blank. In fact, with fingerprint recognition being the primary way to unlock an iDevice nowadays, I'd even suggest going to a complex screen password and not just a 4 or 6 digit one (Since you're not entering the actually password all that often).