How Police Tracked Down Steve Jobs’ Stolen iPads
August 20th, 2012With regard to the alleged privacy one supposedly enjoys with the iPhone: What privacy exists if the device is constantly phoning home to the carrier and Apple and both of them can be subpoenaed? Hmm.
Via: PC World:
The digital breadcrumbs left behind when people use Internet-connected gadgets are what led California investigators to recover iMacs, iPads and other items stolen from the home of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Based on the police report, obtained by the IDG News Service, here’s how they did it.
The burglary took place while the Jobs family home, in a leafy and quiet area of Palo Alto, was being renovated and was unoccupied. Sometime between the construction crew leaving the site at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, and arriving just before 8 a.m. the next morning, someone entered the house and stole several personal effects and Apple gadgets.
Within several days, the Palo Alto Police Department had enlisted the help of the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team, a San Jose-based organization formed by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that specializes in computer-related crimes. Local police wanted assistance tracking down the Apple computers and iPads that were reported stolen from the house.
The REACT team reached out to Apple’s own investigators, who had access to the company’s computer systems, and supplied them with a list of serial numbers of stolen devices. Apple was quickly able to determine that one of the stolen iPads had connected with Apple’s servers soon after the burglary.
Research Credit: HPLovecraft666
