Apple bypassed lock screen

[AlliFlowers]

Normally, Apple requires proof of purchase to unlock a device. But this week, my assistant principal brought me his iPad, having forgotten the lock screen password he set up last month when I gave it to him. (Turns out he hadn't gotten any further than assigning a password!)

Anyhow, I got all my paperwork in order and called Apple. They never asked for anything. The last time this happened, I had to upload the purchase order for the iPad showing the serial number.

The lady had me hold power and home button until the iTunes logo appeared, and then do a restore. Does that mean anyone can do this, and the security is actually not as great as we thought?

 

[ivanwi11iams]

Hmm, I will be interested to see the responses to this thread.
I have an iPhone 4, from an employee that left the company. No matter what I said to Apple, they would not reset it for me. And, we did not have a receipt per se', but the number on our master company ATT account.

Anyway, looking forward to the responses...

 

[NT1440]

Normally, Apple requires proof of purchase to unlock a device. But this week, my assistant principal brought me his iPad, having forgotten the lock screen password he set up last month when I gave it to him. (Turns out he hadn't gotten any further than assigning a password!)

Anyhow, I got all my paperwork in order and called Apple. They never asked for anything. The last time this happened, I had to upload the purchase order for the iPad showing the serial number.

The lady had me hold power and home button until the iTunes logo appeared, and then do a restore. Does that mean anyone can do this, and the security is actually not as great as we thought?

That’s a DFU restore. It’all allow for a restoration but the device is still locked to an AppleID and without that password you can’t get through the setup process. It’s the anti-theft solution they cooked up years ago.

 

[chabig]

Normally, Apple requires proof of purchase to unlock a device. But this week, my assistant principal brought me his iPad, having forgotten the lock screen password he set up last month when I gave it to him. (Turns out he hadn't gotten any further than assigning a password!)

Anyhow, I got all my paperwork in order and called Apple. They never asked for anything. The last time this happened, I had to upload the purchase order for the iPad showing the serial number.

The lady had me hold power and home button until the iTunes logo appeared, and then do a restore. Does that mean anyone can do this, and the security is actually not as great as we thought?

Since you did a restore, no personal data was compromised. Therefore, it’s not a security issue at all. You were only able to restore the device because you know the AppleID it’s activated to. A thief would never be able to bypass the activation lock.

 

[ivanwi11iams]

Ah, right. That's the same spot I kept being stuck. I was told to contact the ex-employee to have them give me their password to thus unlock the unit.

That’s a DFU restore. It’all allow for a restoration but the device is still locked to an AppleID and without that password you can’t get through the setup process. It’s the anti-theft solution they cooked up years ago.

 

[NT1440]

Ah, right. That's the same spot I kept being stuck. I was told to contact the ex-employee to have them give me their password to thus unlock the unit.

Yup, you’re out of luck on that end. The device is a brick.

The nice thing about DFU is you’re only locked to the AppleID which you can reset the password on if you forget it.
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Since you did a restore, no personal data was compromised. Therefore, it’s not a security issue at all. You were only able to restore the device because you know the AppleID it’s activated to. A thief would never be able to bypass the activation lock.

Activation Lock! I knew the scheme had a name but I had forgotten it.

 

[AlliFlowers]

As it turned out, my AP had not gotten far enough in the setup to assign an Apple ID. Nothing lost, nothing gained.

But the process was identical to the one I used last year when I had to provide a serial number and receipt. It wiped everything including whoever's Apple ID was in there from the previous year.

That’s a DFU restore. It’all allow for a restoration but the device is still locked to an AppleID and without that password you can’t get through the setup process. It’s the anti-theft solution they cooked up years ago.

Since you did a restore, no personal data was compromised. Therefore, it’s not a security issue at all. You were only able to restore the device because you know the AppleID it’s activated to. A thief would never be able to bypass the activation lock.

 

[Getoffmeluckycharms]

Yes, but if they deleted the device from Find My iPhone, when you do a restore like that it has to connect to Apple's servers and see if it's on an account. That's why you were able to do it that way.

The more you know...