Hey all!
After my second phone, my beloved OnePlus 7 Prom was stolen. I have been wondering why there is no proper protection against stealing the phones. iPhones are locked to their account they are activated with..
why does google not implement something like this to their android devices ? In germany is also not possible to track an phone by its IMEI, expect its part of a proper ciriminal act. I was a little bit upset by the fact, that someone can steal your phone, just do an hard / factory reset from the bootloader and can continue using your phone. In this case, the only good thing is that your personal data is wiped.
Imaging someone would have accsess to your personal data on your phone, its much more worse than losing a few hundert euros. Anyway, i am feeling uncomfortable with the fact, that something like this routine is surely working like a charm (éven in germany!) and a easy way to make money.
So if not the providers, the government or google is protecting you from this to happen - i think i should do it on my self.
So my idea was to install to use something like cerberus and install it to the system partition via root access. Now my only concern is, if i rooted my phone, i would possible make it easier to bypass the screenlock of the phone or not ?
Would be great if you would share your thoughts on this!
Related
Hi,
Recently my phone got stolen. It was HTC Desire. And I never thought it would happen, so was not prepared for it to happen.
And now in wake of that I was wondering what is the best mechanism available to recover lost phone.
To be precise, I am looking for something which will work even if thief removes the SIM, SDCard, does a factory reset, or install an entirely fresh ROM.
And if it could.. send an SMS/Email to a fixed destination (with phone number and GPS location) upon request/fixed-event in the background, it would be great.
So that virtually, the Phone would be unstealable as long as someone uses it with a new SIM(send SMS) or connects to internet (Email) even after wiping everything clean and installing a fresh ROM.
Complete protection is not possible, unless there is some option from the phone manufacturer build-in.
And I think even that can be circumvented.
However if your phone is rooted, you can install some apps which hide themselves and even survive a factory reset.
Lookout Security & Antivirus
Cerberus anti theft
And I think most thieves are not that smart to flash a new rom.
cool.aquarian said:
Hi,
Recently my phone got stolen. It was HTC Desire. And I never thought it would happen, so was not prepared for it to happen.
And now in wake of that I was wondering what is the best mechanism available to recover lost phone.
To be precise, I am looking for something which will work even if thief removes the SIM, SDCard, does a factory reset, or install an entirely fresh ROM.
And if it could.. send an SMS/Email to a fixed destination (with phone number and GPS location) upon request/fixed-event in the background, it would be great.
So that virtually, the Phone would be unstealable as long as someone uses it with a new SIM(send SMS) or connects to internet (Email) even after wiping everything clean and installing a fresh ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lizard said:
Complete protection is not possible, unless there is some option from the phone manufacturer build-in.
And I think even that can be circumvented.
However if your phone is rooted, you can install some apps which hide themselves and even survive a factory reset.
Lookout Security & Antivirus
Cerberus anti theft
And I think most thieves are not that smart to flash a new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lizard is right. It's not possible to do what listed. Only way to make it unstealable is to chain it to yourself
It's pretty hard, unless the guy who's steals your phone is a noob
// sent from a galactic Ars Sss
Lizard said:
Complete protection is not possible, unless there is some option from the phone manufacturer build-in.
And I think even that can be circumvented.
However if your phone is rooted, you can install some apps which hide themselves and even survive a factory reset.
And I think most thieves are not that smart to flash a new rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Thief himself may not be that smart, but where I belong to, stealing phones is a well-known racket.
So they have people who specifically know how to handle stolen phones.
Plus the police/manufacturer/carrier here is not of much help afterwards to track the thief down or block the IMEI.
Thanks for the links. Though they may not be exactly what I am looking for, any level of protection is better than none.
I am hoping someday there could be a better means to have more control/personalization of phone at hardware level.
like permanently associating phone's hardware identity with the online profile of original owner.
Complete protection is not possible..
There are many apps that can give phones position by sending an sms but thief r smart..
First they do is a reset..
Sent from my GT-I9100G using xda app-developers app
I'd say you're looking at this the wrong way. Software to locate a stolen phone is a measure that can only possibly help if your phone has already been stolen.
Better to think about how your phone was stolen and what you can do to prevent that from happening. Stop it being stolen before it is actually out of your hands.
Buy a GPS locator and embed it into the phone physically, if anything small enough is even available to the average consumer...
It would have to be fed power from the battery as well, which is far from impossible of course, but still quite the ordeal.
And since your police is obviously useless, learn to fight or buy a gun
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
Pennycake said:
Better to think about how your phone was stolen and what you can do to prevent that from happening. Stop it being stolen before it is actually out of your hands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me.. in my case, the theft was done in a very planned way by two guys (with one guy distracting me, and other guy snipping-off the phone from within my car at a busy traffic signal...
More than losing the phone, I am pissed about how it all happened..
I was considering teach those fu**ers a good lesson.
Locking your phone in Ft. Knox would still have the potential of disappearing.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app
Hi everybody
I thought that if someone steals my phone, the thief has simply to flash a fresh rom to make the device usable (don't consider the IMEI lock, because, at least in EU, if the phone is taken in another country this lock is useless), even if I am able to protect my data with many programs that lock the phone when it's urned on. I was thinking about something that makes the device not usable at all, for example a password-locked bootloader to prevent unauthorized flashing. What do you think about it, is it makeable? Does it makes sense or is it simply a bad idea?
Actually, that does sound like a good idea, its simple enough putting a phone into boot loader and flashing a new ROM, I have no idea if its make able but it is a good idea
Sent from my One V using xda premium
I guess u cannot do that...so far no one did it....
But good idea.
gigsaw said:
Hi everybody
I thought that if someone steals my phone, the thief has simply to flash a fresh rom to make the device usable (don't consider the IMEI lock, because, at least in EU, if the phone is taken in another country this lock is useless), even if I am able to protect my data with many programs that lock the phone when it's urned on. I was thinking about something that makes the device not usable at all, for example a password-locked bootloader to prevent unauthorized flashing. What do you think about it, is it makeable? Does it makes sense or is it simply a bad idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Intel has implemented anti theft technology (Intel AT) for laptop processor which locks down the hardware itself but no such solution for mobile processor. Just hope that Intel/ other manufacturers brings it to mobile processor in the future
At least I was thinking that before flashing with ADB or with RUU could be checked if the PC is logged in with the same google account on the phone...phones cost to much and are too easy to be stolen =s but in my opinion it's impossible to do something like that in unofficial way, manufacters could care about that but they don't...I wrote a couple of e-mails to some manufacters, some of them answered that they are not interested in that.
Hi everyone , I've been an android user for the last couple of years I still own an iPhone but I'm really excited to sell it because from now on I feel that buying an iPhone is buying a piece of plastic with technology from 3 years ago with an apple sticker , OK, why am I making this post well .Nowadays stealing a phone is useless because of the security measures used on them , with an iPhone it's impossible to unlock the device without the icloud but on the Android side , with my note 5 I'm able to reset and use it like it was a brand new phone even though I've set the fingerprints lockscreen, if someone steals my phone they can press home+power+volume up and do a factory reset and BANG they have a new phone , I have rooted my phone but is anything possible fix this ? Any kind of configuration or app that stills make the recovery menu possible and the factory reset option but still maintain my security configuration that why even that people erase all the data on my.phone the couldn't be able to use it because it would still have the lockscreen setup with my f in Niger prints or code . Thank you
ralls94 said:
Hi everyone , I've been an android user for the last couple of years I still own an iPhone but I'm really excited to sell it because from now on I feel that buying an iPhone is buying a piece of plastic with technology from 3 years ago with an apple sticker , OK, why am I making this post well .Nowadays stealing a phone is useless because of the security measures used on them , with an iPhone it's impossible to unlock the device without the icloud but on the Android side , with my note 5 I'm able to reset and use it like it was a brand new phone even though I've set the fingerprints lockscreen, if someone steals my phone they can press home+power+volume up and do a factory reset and BANG they have a new phone , I have rooted my phone but is anything possible fix this ? Any kind of configuration or app that stills make the recovery menu possible and the factory reset option but still maintain my security configuration that why even that people erase all the data on my.phone the couldn't be able to use it because it would still have the lockscreen setup with my f in Niger prints or code . Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest no. Even your finger print can be grabbed from the device. No mobile device security is complete. There are even ways to get around apples.
Best advise is dont lose your device or keep anything really important on it.
there are back doors built into android I read a while ago that if you know the persons Gmail account on the phone you can actually make it urs I mean the imei number might be bad but there is always wifi but anyways all u need is the Gmail associated with the phone and the password null and bam you in I have yet to try it but I will here in a few
There's an option to enable a reactivation lock. But really, flashing a custom ROM will remove this. There's no way around it, on any device.
Installing some security software may help to catch a thief. I'm using one which takes picture using front camera and emailing it to me after 3 unsuccessful passwords. On rooted phone is impossible to remove untill you flash new firmware
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Hello everyone.
Due to some circumstances I lost my oneplus one.
It was snatched from me by two guys
I was already using some other phone and kept Oneplus One as reserve.
My question is what are the chances to extract data from that phone.
TWRP was already there
(1) Dalvik cache, System, Cache Data and Internal Storage was wiped through twrp
http://www.technobuzz.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/TWRP-Wipe-Cache-and-Data-System.jpg
(2) Data was formatted
http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/TWRP-Recovery-Format-Data.jpg
(3) Fresh rom was installed using USB-OTG
(4) Complete internal storage was filled with dummy data and deleted it
(5) Then I was using that phone for emails and gaming purpose only.
Phone was not encrypted
Do data which were stored in that mobile before wiping and fresh installation of rom can be recovered by those culprits?
Hello Experts,
Please provide your valuable views
As you know with TWRP you can bypass and access files. However if you only used it for email and gaming purposes last. I don't think you have much to worry about.
It really sucks that there's such low people out there. I wish all phones came with the 'kill switch' feature by default.
forid200 said:
As you know with TWRP you can bypass and access files. However if you only used it for email and gaming purposes last. I don't think you have much to worry about.
It really sucks that there's such low people out there. I wish all phones came with the 'kill switch' feature by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi forid200
Thanks for reply.
Before I was using it as my primary phone.
As I already have one more cellphone, I'd kept Oneplus One as spare.
Before keeping it ,below procedure has been done :-
TWRP was already there
(1) Dalvik cache, System, Cache Data and Internal Storage was wiped through twrp
http://www.technobuzz.net/wp-content...ata-System.jpg
(2) Data was formatted
http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-co...ormat-Data.jpg
(3) Fresh rom was installed using USB-OTG
(4) Complete internal storage was filled with dummy data and deleted it
In such case is there still chances for old data to be stolen?
hoppingpanda said:
Hi forid200
Thanks for reply.
Before I was using it as my primary phone.
As I already have one more cellphone, I'd kept Oneplus One as spare.
Before keeping it ,below procedure has been done :-
TWRP was already there
(1) Dalvik cache, System, Cache Data and Internal Storage was wiped through twrp
http://www.technobuzz.net/wp-content...ata-System.jpg
(2) Data was formatted
http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-co...ormat-Data.jpg
(3) Fresh rom was installed using USB-OTG
(4) Complete internal storage was filled with dummy data and deleted it
In such case is there still chances for old data to be stolen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm seriously not seeing what you're worrying about, you barely had any data on that phone and when people steal a phone they want to sell it 99% of the time not get your personal data. Unless you're a very influential/famous person in your country whose data is extremely important hence more valuable than the phone itself, which I highly doubt you are. Whether there's a chance or not is irrelevant at this point, the phone is gone what happens to it is out of your control. Get a new phone and enjoy your life
Renosh said:
I'm seriously not seeing what you're worrying about, you barely had any data on that phone and when people steal a phone they want to sell it 99% of the time not get your personal data. Unless you're a very influential/famous person in your country whose data is extremely important hence more valuable than the phone itself, which I highly doubt you are. Whether there's a chance or not is irrelevant at this point, the phone is gone what happens to it is out of your control. Get a new phone and enjoy your life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very bluntly said, however, it is true. The phone is gone, the thieves are probably more interested in selling it rather than looking through your porn collection. There's a few things you can try and do, you can try wiping it through Android device manager. Truthfully, if the sims out and the phone has no data connection. It will fail.
You can report it to the carrier/police and get the devices IMEI blocked. If you kept your OnePlus box like I have, you will see a small sticker with the devices IMEI written on it. This will render it useless as a mobile.
I know how annoyed you must feel, losing your device, data. And I understand that after you have a phone for a while, it starts to have slight 'sentimental' value to you, you could say. Thieves attempted to rob me a few times (here in London), I nearly got sprayed with corrosive acid, I nearly got stabbed, I put up a good fight and they couldn't get anything from me. But it did get me to think, how much is a device worth to you man? Is it worth more than your life?
These people robbing, they have no heart, no soul, they don't give a ****. I think cellphone manufacturers should all become more responsible and start building in kill switches.
My best advice to you is the above, these thieves will be out there. And it can happen, the OnePlus One is pretty old now. So I guess it should hurt less, get yourself a OnePlus 3, or as you said, it was your spare device. So just use whatever you have.
forid200 said:
That's very bluntly said, however, it is true. The phone is gone, the thieves are probably more interested in selling it rather than looking through your porn collection. There's a few things you can try and do, you can try wiping it through Android device manager. Truthfully, if the sims out and the phone has no data connection. It will fail.
You can report it to the carrier/police and get the devices IMEI blocked. If you kept your OnePlus box like I have, you will see a small sticker with the devices IMEI written on it. This will render it useless as a mobile.
I know how annoyed you must feel, losing your device, data. And I understand that after you have a phone for a while, it starts to have slight 'sentimental' value to you, you could say. Thieves attempted to rob me a few times (here in London), I nearly got sprayed with corrosive acid, I nearly got stabbed, I put up a good fight and they couldn't get anything from me. But it did get me to think, how much is a device worth to you man? Is it worth more than your life?
These people robbing, they have no heart, no soul, they don't give a ****. I think cellphone manufacturers should all become more responsible and start building in kill switches.
My best advice to you is the above, these thieves will be out there. And it can happen, the OnePlus One is pretty old now. So I guess it should hurt less, get yourself a OnePlus 3, or as you said, it was your spare device. So just use whatever you have.
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Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks a lot for nice reply which really made my day.
I was only afraid for my old personal scanned documents and family photographs.
Any how, your words have provided me potency and ray of light that let bygones be bygones
I'll try to search that box and request for IMEI block.
Thanks you so much
hoppingpanda said:
Hi,
Thanks a lot for nice reply which really made my day.
I was only afraid for my old personal scanned documents and family photographs.
Any how, your words have provided me potency and ray of light that let bygones be bygones
I'll try to search that box and request for IMEI block.
Thanks you so much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to have helped you out! Sorry for the late reply. If you need anything feel free to PM, or just join my WhatsApp group for faster reps from other OnePlus power users.
Hey Guys,
I currently work as a system admin for a company out in Denver Tech Center and long story short, I'm kind of a fill in lead after a couple months on the job. Perhaps I'll officially get the lead role, but who knows. He was caught stealing technology with company money.
Anyway I just acquired all his assets (or company assets rather) yesterday and everything was recoverable, his iPhone, Mac, PC, etc., but his damn Pixel is impossible lol. We use G-Suite so I have them helping out as well and they have a ticket with the engineering team to see if they can help us, but I was wondering if there's another way I can bypass it so we can repurpose the phone. We use Airwatch, but it doesn't seem to care if I did a Factory Reset on the phone through recovery, so that was my mistake. I probably should have used Airwatch to recover the phone or at least unlock it so I can reset it through the menu. Or just used Airwatch to repurpose the phone.
But live and learn, Rookie Mistake for sure. It's not a huge priority for me so if there's no fix we'll just recycle the phone.
Thanks for the help
Have you tried using adb and reflash stock image?
It should full auto wipe the partitions and reinstall the system as new, this wipes every data and protections.
No I haven't, I figured it was part of a Google Server thing? It registers the IMEI or Serial and says "oh [email protected] is associated with it and must validate before I continue registering phone", but if that's not the case, I can certainly try it. I'll have to wait until Monday to pick up the phone again. I don't wanna go into work on a weekend haha.
Yes, there's a way now.