

iOS 6 fixes bug that sent iMessages to stolen iPhones - markshepard
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/11/ios-6-fixes-bug-that-sent-imessages-to-stolen-iphones/

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s_henry_paulson
From the comments:

 _Is it me or is it slightly worrying that they seem to have implemented these
changes at a client level, meaning that someone could by-pass them with custom
software, instead of doing it properly and having the server refuse to send
out messages once the phone has been wiped / unregistered?

Surely all of this is a backend thing and should not have any client component
at all._

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tolmasky
A reasonable service would have the list of connected decices available online
for you to disable any of the devices at any time (as well as obviously
removing a device when it's reported stolen). However knowing apple they'd put
it in iTunes instead of making it a website (super useful if you're traveling
without your computer!), and more likely they just won't do it all.

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m_eiman
You have a list of your registered devices on iCloud.com, but I don't know
what effect removing a device there has on the device's connections to various
Apple services.

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alexkus
It's always boggled me that mobile operators (and the Police) do very little
to help try and trace stolen phones, or share IMEI block lists amongst
operators.

Tying stolen IMEIs to IMSIs (when the phone is sold on or reused) should lead
to a large number of recovered phones as not every stolen phone will be reused
with a pre-paid SIM (and therefore untraceable IMSI).

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nodata
Don't they do this in the UK?

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omh
There is a central blacklist of IMEIs for stolen phones. This seems to work
pretty well (anecdotally, many stolen phones are sent out of the country)

I don't think that the police do anything like this for actually tracing
stolen phones though.

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myko
Were the police able to track the stolen phone down? How did they know
iMessages were being sent to the stolen device?

