Wednesday 12 December 2012

There's an app for that.

From Cybercrimesunit.com:

A woman who tried to unlock a stolen iPhone unwittingly took her own photo. An app on the phone then automatically sent the photo to the owner, who called the police.

The app, identified by some media outlets as iGotYa, can only be installed on jailbroken [wot?] iPhones. iGotYa takes a picture of anyone who tries to unlock it, maps their location and then sends the information to the owner in an email.

That’s exactly what happened in this particular case, Sussex Police said, with an iPhone that had been stolen from the Coalition nightclub in Brighton, East Sussex, earlier this month. Police have released the picture of the woman who might have stolen the phone.


Ah, these precious iPhone owners with all their fancy technology, don't they know they can be outwitted with a couple of simple items which you can buy at any hardware shop or might even have lying round the house?

1. Some black insulation tape to stick over the lens or lenses on the iPhone so that it can't take your picture.

2. You then place the iPhone on a hard surface and give it a sharp blow with a normal household hammer to disable the chip. Then turn the iPhone over and smack it on the other side as well, just to be sure.

There, they'll never track you down now!

6 comments:

A K Haart said...

"a sharp blow with a normal household hammer"

Or use the latest iSmash.

Anonymous said...

"Jailbroken" refers to a removal of the restrictions that would ordinarily stop you from re-programming the thing in greater depth.

Old BE said...

My strategy to avoid iPhone theft in the first place is to have last year's model. If you buy at the end of the product cycle the phone is a lot cheaper than when first launched.

I'm a bit surprised that there is iPhone theft anyway because the type of twats who steal phones or buy dodgy second-hand ones down the pub generally prefer Blackberry.

BE

Mark Wadsworth said...

AKH, an IT expert friend of mine reckons that immersing them in hot, soapy water for a few minutes also disables the tracking chip. It's called "iSplash".

RA, aha, thank you. But in that case, only thieves would install it?

BE, I'm insured against iPhone theft by having a vintage £15 Nokia.

Bayard said...

"BE, I'm insured against iPhone theft by having a vintage £15 Nokia."

Not the 6310i by any chance?

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, I've checked and there's no number on it. It just says "Nokia" and then it's got like a little b/w screen and then some buttons and stuff.