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submitted 1 month ago by 1984@lemmy.today to c/technology@lemmy.world

This is a very entertaining and educational article, giving insights into the methods used by thiefs to try and get access to your phone data.

I don't like Apple but it's great that their security is so good when it comes to this.

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[-] jjagaimo@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 month ago

The phone itself (by IMEI) is a brick. The sim and same phone number were assigned to a new phone and they texted that number

[-] Xatolos@reddthat.com 20 points 1 month ago

Issue here is the iPhone 14 USA models are all e-Sim. They don't have sim cards to remove. The article says it was a iPhone 14 Pro.

[-] jjagaimo@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Typically if you report the phone stolen to your provider they blacklist the IMEI which gets shared with other providers so the phone can no longer be used. I was unclear on this part but a new e-sim can be provided for the new phone, and the old sim banned or the old one transferred. Regardless, the old phone will still show the IMEI/sim/phone number, which is how they got that to text them

[-] Aux@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

IMEI doesn't mean shit, you can easily change it and no one really blacklists them. The iPhone is bricked on a hardware level through iCloud.

[-] mx_smith@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

So they took the SIM card out and got the phone number from that? I guess I didn’t realize you could do that.

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 8 points 1 month ago

Yes, it's the SIM card that carries your number and may also carry data on your contacts if you save it there.

[-] n0clue@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

They almost definitely got this info by simply having the IMEI, which is printed on the back and can definitely be accessed in whatever Apple calls their service mode though.

[-] XTL@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 month ago

And has had a PIN lock from the start. Doesn't help if you leave it as 1234, though.

[-] mx_smith@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

How would you set that pin on a SIM card in an iPhone?

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

On iOS:

Settings > cellular > SIM PIN

[-] Allero@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

True, although this option loses popularity over the years.

[-] Emerald@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

And you can use that phone number to find their full name and address.

this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2024
908 points (97.8% liked)

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