MacBook Pro robbed, can I erase data through iCloud?

stage01

It got robbed earlier from my apartment (absolute scum). Couple of questions for anyone in the know on this stuff:

I had 'find my mac' setup, I'm wondering if I log into iCloud and click the 'erase mac' button what will it actually erase, does it wipe the whole thing, all files, like a factory reset etc?

Also wondering if someone does go online does it send me an email to notify me of their location? (I checked the notify me checkbox). Is there any way I can get the ip from where they logged on?

Cheers for any help

S

Graham

before you attempt to nuke the MacBook, did you have find my Mac setup? If you did, login to icloud.com and try 'find my iPhone' to see if your macbook shows up.

Razor Russ

Sorry to hear that
Go to iCloud.com
Click find my iPhone.
If you mac is online you can get its location. You can wipe it if you want but you loose the ability to track it

My opinion lock it remotely put a message on the screen of the mac remotely of some sort asking for its return. Once locked it is completely useless. It can still connect to the Internet if it has a connection to secretly give iCloud its location. I hope you get it back

stage01

Cheers lads. Dont have high hopes for seeing it again. Have find my mac setup on it alright, have clicked erase mac option, so if they go on the net it will start erasing, but it seems it will still notify me of the location just before it starts erasing.

Do you know exactly what it erases? All files and folders?

ironclaw

Speaking as someone who had in the region of €6k stolen from a car in San Francisco including a MacBook its unlikely to go online. Most thieves either a) Quickly sell it or b) Sell to a specialist who erases the MacBook anyway for later resale in a pawn shop or similar.

I had every single possible defence on my Macbook including Firmware and Boot Passwords. I also have 'Find My Mac', GadgetTrak and numerous other location software. None ever reported back so in my case it seems it was scenario B. Ideally what you want is scenario A and you get the unlucky person who buys it or even better the thieves are stupid enough to use it themselves. All the while remembering the device has to go online.

My advice is paste the full serial number up here in a post. You might get someone Googling the serial even in years to come and they'll find it here. Also keep an eye on Adverts, Gumtree and see if there are any markets nearby where electronics get traded cheap. Every area has one.

Genuinely feel you loss I lost an entire album in progress. Best advice out of it is BackBlaze backup software because I took every other precaution bar data back up (They stole the other bag containing the back up drives)

Sad Professor

On current Macs, a firmware password plus a user account password will pretty much render your machine useless to a thief. Of course, it also means you'll probably never get it back, but unless you are willing to take the thieves on yourself, these tracking solutions are kinda useless.

ironclaw

Sad Professor wrote: »

On current Macs, a firmware password plus a user account password will pretty much render your machine useless to a thief. Of course, it also means you'll probably never get it back, but unless you are willing to take the thieves on yourself, these tracking solutions are kinda useless.

It renders it useless in terms of usage i.e. The thief can't see your data easily (Unless you on-the-fly encrypt the drive as well then your in very good shape) However the Mac is still perfectly sellable as you can reset the firmware password (An Apple Genius bar will even do it unfortunately)

Apple themselves should have a system of flagging stolen property. Would very quickly be picked up with all the iCloud services etc irregardless of the user.

Sad Professor

You can't reset the EFI firmware password yourself on 2011 Macs onward. Apple can do it for you, yes, but I'm pretty sure they require proof of purchase.

ironclaw

Sad Professor wrote: »

You can't reset the EFI firmware password yourself on 2011 Macs onward. Apple can do it for you, yes, but I'm pretty sure they require proof of purchase.

I didn't know this. Wow. I thought a battery removal from the motherboard would do the trick.

Suppose it still hinges on a Genius Bar tech making the effort to verify it isn't stolen but nice to know!

stage01

No sign of it on icloud since. Luckily I had everything backed up on dropbox, definitely worth paying for!

Thanks for the advice, I'll have my next one on lock down with the EFI firmware password and FileVault.

banquo

When they do turn up online, it's usually a couple of months after the robbery. Probably sitting in some thief's house untouched.

ironclaw

banquo wrote: »

When they do turn up online, it's usually a couple of months after the robbery. Probably sitting in some thief's house untouched.

I'm actually living on that hope personally. They say you'll either get it back straight away (i.e 24 hours), a few days later or literally months later. It depends how its sold or distributed. I'd imagine here in Ireland its probably pawn shop, DoneDeal or Gumtree straight away. In the US they are known to move truckloads of stolen stuff between cities to sell it. At least thats what the police in San Fran said to me.