iPad I lost two days of crucial work because of Apple's security feature - learn from my fail

[Casioman]

Hi everyone. I thought I'd take the time to post a tale of woe, one that has seen me lose two days' worth of work and £000s of lost income. Owing to a security 'feature' that I was unaware of, my iPad wiped itself clean of all apps and all my work with it without any intervention from me.

I work as an assessor for an exams board. We're given an iPad Pro 12" to mark exam candidates' work and enter feedback into a proprietary app. The marks are qualitative, so we award a score and feedback on each component of each exam. Each assessment takes at least 10-20 minutes each to complete, and I had just completed 50 assessments.

Yesterday, after I'd finished a long day at work, I put the iPad and my Bluetooth keyboard into my overnight bag. I was taking a trip away to celebrate finishing my marking and was going to proof read the two days' worth of examining at my destination this morning.

However, upon getting myself setup today, I opened my iPad to find that it was locked out for an hour. I found this really strange, as I hadn't even touched the screen. I reached for the power button, but when I pressed it a reset process started immediately, and the iPad completely wiped itself.

In a panic, I phoned my company IT department. After talking through my exact actions since leaving my house yesterday, I realised what must have happened: it was my Bluetooth keyboard. I'd put it in my bag without switching it off, and it remained connected to the iPad. Whilst in the bag, another item in the bag must have been resting on the keys and it was sending key presses to the iPad. The iPad was of course interpreting this as an incorrect attempt to type in the unlock password.

My car journey was over 5 hours yesterday, so the keyboard must have sent thousands of key presses whilst it was in the back of my car. As soon as I opened the iPad cover this morning, a reset procedure was triggered. Because my iPad was away from home, it wasn't logged on to any Wifi, so the backup service that is built into the assessment app didn't send any data to the cloud. I'm screwed.

Apparently, this is an Apple security feature, which they won't allow businesses to turn off at enterprise. I find it absolutely incredible that such a feature is built-in to the OS. It's really over zealous in my view, and in this case it's cost me a lot of lost revenue.

Hope this helps somebody else avoid the same accident I had.

 

[g35]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I always turn that feature off on my devices due to this sort of concern. I can't imagine a "normal" person needs this feature all that much (meaning you're not holding top-secret info on the phone that sophisticated cyberspies would want to get eyes on)

 

[Tdude96]

This security feature isn't on by default (https://www.howtogeek.com/264369/ho...vice-after-too-many-failed-passcode-attempts/) so most people who don't want it probably will never turn it on (or even know it exists).

However, in your situation it sounds like this was a device provided by an employer and used to store sensitive information. It seems possible, or even likely, the employer would issue devices with the feature turned on (and maybe impossible to turn off) via a mobile device management (MDM) profile.

 

[glenthompson]

It’s a feature I have set on all my devices to prevent someone getting into my stuff if the device is lost or stolen. I think your IT group bears some responsibility here for setting up a process that lacks robustness. You would have had similar issues if the iPad was severely damaged, lost, or stolen before you returned to the office.

 

[jchap]

Indeed, a horrifying tale, and quite believable. I'm sorry to hear that you lost work because of it.

Cloud backup systems can have their merits, but they only of course work when you're connected to the Internet. So, your working offline in this case was a rather risky move. Normally, we'd think that nothing ever happens to the data in iPads because they are built so robustly and the OS seems so foolproof... but then it's issues like these which prove us wrong. Some kind of backup strategy is always a must when you're working on mission-critical projects with iPad or any other device. Your IT department will need to take offline situations like this into account in the future, perhaps by providing a small USB-C flash drive to which your work data can be periodically exported, providing the app supports it.

Actually, your story reminds me of a similar thing that happened to me, although it didn't cost me any money. I had my iPad mini and a Bluetooth keyboard stowed in my shoulder bag. As I was going grocery shopping, my shopping companion and I kept noticing that we hear some classical music coming from somewhere besides the store's ceiling speakers. I thought, my iPad is locked, so it couldn't be making any music. Turns out that indeed, my Bluetooth keyboard was left on, and the inside of my shoulder bag was randomly bumping against the hardware play key on the keyboard, thus the iPad played back music with zero intervention from me (and no need to have entered a password). Case closed, and a rather "oh, duh" moment...

 

[MisterSavage]

Apparently, this is an Apple security feature, which they won't allow businesses to turn off at enterprise. I find it absolutely incredible that such a feature is built-in to the OS. It's really over zealous in my view, and in this case it's cost me a lot of lost revenue.

This is not the case at all. The setting to erase a device after a certain number of failed login attempts is not required. Your IT dept is the one that probably made that decision.

Passcode MDM payload settings for Apple devices

You can specify whether a passcode is required to access and use the iPhone, iPad, or Mac enrolled in a mobile device management (MDM) solution.

support.apple.com

 

[stanza.richi]

Sorry for your misadventure, but it seems like that the fault have to be split between your IT department (that turn this function on without advice for you) and yourself (that you store your iPad in a wrong way).

 

[Gherkin]

This exact thing happened to me in Thailand in 2018 on my honeymoon. I had just purchased the new iPad Pro 12.9” and brought my Bluetooth keyboard along. Eventually got locked out of it after too many button presses in my bag. I lost a ~12 hour drawing but that’s it really as the iPad was pretty much brand new.

I’m not sure I would want this feature to be removed though. Should thieves just get unlimited attempts to unlock a stolen device? Maybe after the final lock down, Apple should still be able to unlock the device if they can confirm the original owner.

 

[Slartibart]

What a pitty. Which cover (I assume you use one, because you wrote “you opened” your iPP) and which keyboard model are you using?

 

[mw360]

Argh, nasty. While I wouldn’t blame anyone for this unlucky coincidence, I do think it’s on Apple to have thought of a few problem cases like this - they are normally pretty good at thinking ahead. If that final code entry could wipe the device they really ought to check it’s a competent person and not a hardware problem, or an animal or child messing with the device. Some form of captcha test or something ought to do it.

 

[rpmurray]

Normally, we'd think that nothing ever happens to the data in iPads because they are built so robustly and the OS seems so foolproof...

• Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently capable fool.

 

[MisterSavage]

Argh, nasty. While I wouldn’t blame anyone for this unlucky coincidence, I do think it’s on Apple to have thought of a few problem cases like this - they are normally pretty good at thinking ahead. If that final code entry could wipe the device they really ought to check it’s a competent person and not a hardware problem, or an animal or child messing with the device. Some form of captcha test or something ought to do it.

Someone who has turned on that feature really wants to make sure that the data on the device doesn't fall into the wrong hands. I don't want a thief/hacker/etc getting a captcha. I want my data erased if there are too many failures.

 

[mw360]

Someone who has turned on that feature really wants to make sure that the data on the device doesn't fall into the wrong hands. I don't want a thief/hacker/etc getting a captcha. I want my data erased if there are too many failures.

The captcha just makes the thief prove he’s human before the iPad will accept the final pin attempt. I’m not sure what advantage this would give him.

 

[Slartibart]

I do not doubt the anectdote - I really like to know wether an and which iPad cover or case was involved to avoid that in the future. I can’t wake my iPP on 15.6 when covered from a bluetooth keyboard. And the Moshi VersaCover I use wont, well probably can’t , come off easily due to the way it covers the screen.

 

[MisterSavage]

The captcha just makes the thief prove he’s human before the iPad will accept the final pin attempt. I’m not sure what advantage this would give him.

It gives the thief a huge advantage:

Scenario 1 - The thief tries X times and then the data gets wiped. The thief cannot get your data.

Scenario 2 - The thief tries X times and is presented a captcha. The thief holds off until another method for potentially accessing your data arises. Your data still exists on the device the thief physically controls.

 

[mw360]

It gives the thief a huge advantage:

Scenario 1 - The thief tries X times and then the data gets wiped. The thief cannot get your data.

Scenario 2 - The thief tries X times and is presented a captcha. The thief holds off until another method for potentially accessing your data arises. Your data still exists on the device the thief physically controls.

I don't see why the same thief would make two different choices in these scenarios. Either they are prepared to make the 10th attempt and risk wiping the device or they aren't. Making an extra swipe or tapping a button aren't going to talk them out of it. I didn't say anything about adding warnings to the thief about what was about to happen, and obviously you would design it so the same captcha happens regardless of the security toggle.

 

[darngooddesign]

Hi everyone. I thought I'd take the time to post a tale of woe, one that has seen me lose two days' worth of work and £000s of lost income. Owing to a security 'feature' that I was unaware of, my iPad wiped itself clean of all apps and all my work with it without any intervention from me.

I work as an assessor for an exams board. We're given an iPad Pro 12" to mark exam candidates' work and enter feedback into a proprietary app. The marks are qualitative, so we award a score and feedback on each component of each exam. Each assessment takes at least 10-20 minutes each to complete, and I had just completed 50 assessments.

Yesterday, after I'd finished a long day at work, I put the iPad and my Bluetooth keyboard into my overnight bag. I was taking a trip away to celebrate finishing my marking and was going to proof read the two days' worth of examining at my destination this morning.

However, upon getting myself setup today, I opened my iPad to find that it was locked out for an hour. I found this really strange, as I hadn't even touched the screen. I reached for the power button, but when I pressed it a reset process started immediately, and the iPad completely wiped itself.

In a panic, I phoned my company IT department. After talking through my exact actions since leaving my house yesterday, I realised what must have happened: it was my Bluetooth keyboard. I'd put it in my bag without switching it off, and it remained connected to the iPad. Whilst in the bag, another item in the bag must have been resting on the keys and it was sending key presses to the iPad. The iPad was of course interpreting this as an incorrect attempt to type in the unlock password.

My car journey was over 5 hours yesterday, so the keyboard must have sent thousands of key presses whilst it was in the back of my car. As soon as I opened the iPad cover this morning, a reset procedure was triggered. Because my iPad was away from home, it wasn't logged on to any Wifi, so the backup service that is built into the assessment app didn't send any data to the cloud. I'm screwed.

Apparently, this is an Apple security feature, which they won't allow businesses to turn off at enterprise. I find it absolutely incredible that such a feature is built-in to the OS. It's really over zealous in my view, and in this case it's cost me a lot of lost revenue.

Hope this helps somebody else avoid the same accident I had.

First of all, that really sucks that you lost all your works nd a hard less in turning off your BT accessories.

But it is a really good security feature that prevents thieves from having endless attempts to guess your password.

On the plus side, maybe to can get IT to buy you a Magic Keyboard to avoid this issue in the future. 😀

 

[JPack]

10 attempts is very low given the data is already encrypted. After those attempts, most thieves still don’t have access to your data.

Apple should allow the user to change the number of attempts allowed and definitely increase it for those using a 6-digit PIN or alphanumeric code.

 

[MisterSavage]

I don't see why the same thief would make two different choices in these scenarios. Either they are prepared to make the 10th attempt and risk wiping the device or they aren't. Making an extra swipe or tapping a button aren't going to talk them out of it. I didn't say anything about adding warnings to the thief about what was about to happen, and obviously you would design it so the same captcha happens regardless of the security toggle.

Even so there would be some thieves that don't know about the 10 limit. Once they hit that my data is gone.

 

[F27]

I've always disliked overzealous security like this, unless your a secret agent the only person it seems to harm more often than not is the owner. I always turn off all sorts of remote locking and wiping features for fear of it one day catching me out. A thief is immediately going to erase it or strip it for parts regardless.

 

[dmr727]

Having small kids will remind you of the dangers of having this security enabled. Fortunately all I've had to restore is my Apple watch.