Telstra exec's stolen WinMo 6.5-equipped HTC phone remotely wiped?
By Ross Miller 
posted February 23rd 2009 5:34PM
posted February 23rd 2009 5:34PM
posted February 23rd 2009 5:34PM
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can they do that??
Blackberry has been able to do this for years... If your phone is stolen you can get them to disable it or wipe it completely remotely . That is why it is stupid to steal blackberry"s.
According to the article, yes
All more reasons to buy a lead case.
Many businesses require that remote wipe be available on any phones they give to their employees(especially smart phones) so I would expect it to exist with Windows Mobile somehow or it wouldn't be good for enterprise use.
Yes, if it has been associated with a user's email via Exchange, that person who owns the email account (or an Exchange admin) can log in, even using Outlook Web Access, and send a remote wipe. Granted the phone needs to either be set for auto synch, or be told to synch with the Exchange server in order to recieve this command, but it's been like this since 6.0 - nothing new.
The thing with the Exchange wipe is that it just hard resets the phone, erasing all data but leaving the OS intact. They would have to have some additional remote wipe functionality in place, which wouldn't be unexpected for a phone like that.
However, my guess is the thief immediately removed the SIM card from the phone so to disconnect it from the cellular network to avoid tracking, and also avoiding the wipe. This is a MWC attendee we're talking about, not some random pickpocket off the street.
The ability to wipe DATA from a phone has existed for a while. Wiping the OS is new though.
I'm not at all surprised that MS wrote an app for a bunch of prototype devices to be able to wipe the entire OS. A clever solution, or perhaps a very clever marketing strategy?
Here's the new ad copy:
"What happens if your iPhone is stolen? They get everything! All your songs, contacts, emails, and inappropriate portraits. What happens if your WM gets stolen? They get a fancy paperweight.
WindowsMobile - Bringing you back with the power of fear."
"Wipe your phone clean - Don’t risk data leaks and embarrassment, Terminator removes all your data so you can sell or decommission your new phone." http://www.spritesoftware.com/products/sprite-terminator
You can get this for $14 or bundled with Sprite Backup in a nifty HTC specil for $20.
I have SmartPhoneTracker (it's free!) on my Touch Pro. You can email/text a code word to it that automatically starts up the GPS. Once it has a lock, it replies to a set email address or replies to the text/email you sent it (you choose when you set it up), and then it sends you a link to Google Maps that shows you the precise location of your phone. The latest release actually tracks your phone, so it will tell you if it's on the move.
Also, with Bell, you can go to your Push Mail settings from any computer and send your phone a signal to destroy all data. But ya, as Nicholas said, you can't wipe the ROM with that, just the User Data.
@ Brad
"What happens if your iPhone is stolen? They get everything!"
Actually that is not correct. If your iPhone is stolen the data can be remotely wiped off. Apple announced support for this in March of 2008. Same rules apply, the phone must be linked to an Exchange server account:
"IT administrators can securely manage any iPhone that contains confidential company information using remote wipe and enforced security and password policies."
http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/integration.html
This is Apple's Phil Schiller talking about this feature (1:45 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxp9IzTGVno
By the way, what's the difference between WinMo 6.1 and 6.5 in terms of technological advancements/innovations? Besides the honeycomb skin looks that is.
Pocket w/ some layers aluminum foil... done.
...
Or turn it off.
I'm sure the reception must be awesome with that.
is flight mode enough to block the remote wipe signal ?
I knew I should have uploaded screenshots right away!
better idea- pull out battery
No worries, I keep it in my RFID wallet.
youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
The only thing they can do is wipe the user data. It is equivalent to doing a hard reset to windows mobile device. So yes screen shots can still pop up, but who cares, we have all seen wmo 6.5 already.
awesome choice of photo
YEAH best photo since the Phelps millisecond one..
don't keep doing that! you're gonna give her leukemia or some shit!
:P
Wait, so the operating system being wiped is a feature? Wow, I've had the feature for many years with WinMo.
lol
I see someone was watching TBS last night... and here I thought I was alone...lmao
lol Totally wrong post.
In regards to this story: That is too bad. I was looking forward to some raw, uncut WinMo 6.5 finger action but... hey.
Tomorrow, when he finds his HTC in the inner pocket of his jacket, he'll wish they wouldn't have been so quick.
Along with his Vaio P.
Either way, the genius swiper gets a free phone...unless it's remotely disabled too ...:P
In that case, he's left with a fine doorstop or paperweight. Still not bad IMHO. :)
i don't see why he couldn't just reload it with WinMo 6.1...
Loving the comedy Ross
Faraday cage? If I recall correctly, that only works with electricity, not electromagnetism.
it blocks radio waves put a cell phone in one & you get 0% signal
Oh right. I guess I was wrong.
Somebody hasn't been watching his mythbusters.
Mythbusters is just awesome.
@Ignatius: mythbusters if for you if you like entertainment terribly disguising itself as some sort of science. i am not claiming that the stuff they debunk is real, i am merely pointing out that their experiments are far from scientific.
Doesn't make it any less fun to watch!
@Najakwa: See http://xkcd.com/397/
"Ideas are tested by experiment. That is the core of science. Everything else is bookkeeping."
What, I watch TV so I can create the next hubbub around the water cooler at a laboratory? No, I watch TV for entertainment value. They even state that they approach each myth with trial-and-error tactics with collective ignorance. In any case, they do use the scientific method in debunking myths. :P
@ Najakwa
And I'm merely pointing out that your grammar is far from correct........
pardon my grammar. I try my best but sometimes english gets the best of me. Scares me to think that people actually think what they do is scientific though. Experimenting 3 or 4 times with one or two versions of something that you built for the sake of entertainment isn't exactly using the scientific method appropriately. They often just assume that something isn't ever going to work, when your usual scientist would test and experiment and observe until there was no doubt. That show is infotainment, not science. I would just go a step further and say that they can't even make it look like they aren't reading from scripts half the time.
Sorry, just thought of something else too. Trying something, failing, and then concluding "I tried it and failed, so no one can do it!" is not a logically, or scientifically valid statement. The vast majority of the time, the mythbusters never actually disprove anything, they simply (1) experiment, to gain a better understanding of the factors involved in a given myth, and (2) conjecture, based on their results, as to the likelyhood of a given myth being valid.
Long story short, when they say "MYTH BUSTED", they're almost always saying "This story is extremely unlikely", not "The very laws of physics make the situation laid out in this story impossible".
hope they removed the sim card
@Jacob:
Faraday cages also shield the interior from external electromagnetic radiation if the conductor is thick enough and any holes are significantly smaller than the radiation's wavelength.
Waves to and from all Microsoft devices can get in and out through the holes marked with an M. Blackberry devices' waves come through the holes marked with a B. All Apple devices are for the A holes.
@ Dave
Wow. Awesome. Maybe you should take it up a notch and call them Buttheads next time.
Just a really really sweet joke. Don't second guess yourself- it was really really funny.
OMG! Does this mean I don't have to hide in my fridge every time I cook something in the microwave?