Author

Anyone who spends time in the great outdoors knows that gear is both your best friend and your worst enemy. Most tech doesn’t need to be used moment-to-moment and therefore we end up hoarding many devices that we don’t necessarily need. What I have always struggled with is the balance of having everything I need on hand while remaining unburdened by unnecessary equipment. Musicians who haul their gear across the world, jack-of-all-trades contractors with trucks full to the brim with tools, trekkers with a week’s supply of rations and essential needs on their backs… we can all relate to each other’s struggles. Those are extreme examples, but even if you’re a student with a heavy backpack or a traveling businessman who doesn’t want to drag so many carry-on bags everywhere, I believe you must feel it too.

So what is the point here? Apple has worked really hard to help folks need less on their person at any given time. Yet, if you are reading this article, you probably have at least two or three Apple devices that you use regularly. Here’s a setup I see a lot: someone with an iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch and MacBook Pro that are consistently on their person while traveling. Let’s think for a moment about what each of those is used for; most folks access email and iMessages, browse the web, stream content, capture audio, photos and video, play games, design content within creative apps, edit documents and share data with others. Of the four devices I mentioned, three of them can do EVERY ONE of those functions completely autonomously (the Watch of course being in its own category of device completely unlike anything else they make and therefore not to be compared in that context).

This is not to say that the features and level of control are the same on each device, far from it. You should certainly own all those devices for the most complete Apple experience overall; however, moment to moment or out and about, it’s unnecessary to have them all on your person. Your iPhone can likely be your best friend; coupled with an Apple Watch it’s likely the only device you’d need all day every day. Unless you are doing more intensive work, you shouldn’t need more than maybe an iPad Pro on the go. The MacBook Pros are a lot lighter weight than they used to be, making them a lot easier to carry day to day. Once iCloud is all-encompassing data storage, as it pretty much already is, you won’t need anything else just to stay connected, entertained, and inspired. Goodbye heavy, redundant tech! You’ve got all the power you need right in the palm of your hand (and also attached to your wrist if you’re on the next level). And here’s the icing on the cake – iCloud accounts will become your only logins. Each iMac and MacBook, iPad and iPhone of the world will require an account to setup (the iPhone and iPad pretty much already do). You won’t think about what is on each device, you will simply know that it’s all in the cloud and also backed up to your Time Capsule. If you’re using iCloud correctly, tech is lighter and easier to manage on the go!

We’ve recently had quite a few run ins with Macs that have been coming into the South Burlington location with either iCloud lost mode active, a firmware passcode active, or a combination of both. While this is usually used as a personal security measure if a device is lost or stolen, this recent surge has been of the malicious kind.

In my experience working with Apple for a few years, the devices themselves are not being “hacked” but rather the user’s accounts are being hijacked by thieves or money hungry “hackers” in an attempt to collect money from the account holder. The only way out of this lock is to either pay the thief and hope they give access back OR be able to provide proof of purchase for your device. If you’re lucky, at least for iOS device users, you can verify your identity with AppleCare directly and regain access to your account and iOS device. But the Macs are a different story, as they often include what’s called a firmware passcode. The firmware passcode cannot be bypassed without providing a proof of purchase to an Apple Store or an Authorized Apple Service Provider, such as ourselves.

The way the thieves manage to take control of the iCloud account associated with the Mac or iOS device is by gaining access to the associated email address, then resetting the password for the AppleID, then logging into the iCloud website with the newly stolen credential. They do this in such a way that most people wouldn’t know that it had even happened until it was too late, and they were locked out of their Macs or iOS devices. The accounts I’ve seen hijacked have all been accounts that did not have either two-step authentication nor two-factor authentication active. The thief will then activate lost mode on their devices, with a message attached to the likeness of, “To regain access to your account, email me at johnnyrotten@madeupemail.com!” They will then ask to be paid in a form of currency called “BitCoin” rather than using user’s before giving back the account.

There is no telling when or where this sort of “hack” may happen, but there is an easy way to make sure the account is secure: setting up two-factor authentication for your AppleID account. You can do this by following the instructions on Apple’s very own website Two-factor authentication for Apple ID. If you do find yourself stuck in a situation like this, make sure to first change your email password to block out access to the attacker. Make sure to change any account passwords associated with that email as well (such as banking). I’ve posted the links to articles below to further educate you on the uses of iCloud Lost Mode and Firmware Lock.

Stay safe out there, and keep your accounts on lockdown so this doesn’t happen to you!