Filed under: Retail, Apple, Security
Customer laptops stolen from Apple Store
Security is job number one here at TUAW. Well, irreverent enthusiasm is job number one, but security is in the top ten at least. That's why this report of a break in at Seattle's University Village Apple store hits so close to home, even though my home is in Philadelphia.Thieves apparently cut a hole in the ceiling and dropped into the back room where repaired Macs were quietly waiting to be reunited with their owners. Sadly, those reunions will most likey never happen. That's right, those cads stole all the laptops in that room, as well as a bunch of iPhones. I can only hope that those Macs were setup to make it a little difficult for the thieves to get their hands on the personal information contained therein (though knowing Mac users as I do I imagine those machines don't even require a password to login).
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon said 4:06PM on 8-22-2007
If you are one of the affected owners, change your passwords for EVERYTHING because probably, like me, you had most sites set to sign in automatically. My laptop was stolen and I didn't change any passwords and then I noticed all kinds of strange purchases on my iTunes account.....
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Slevin said 4:08PM on 8-22-2007
Well looks like those folks are going to get a nice chunk of change from apple not including a new computer. I wish my macbook pro was stolen out of an apple store!
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tim said 4:11PM on 8-22-2007
holy heck! i decided at the last minute not to leave my 24" imac there monday morning for repair thinking id just tough it out until it gets worse...looks like it would have been worse had i left it!
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tim said 4:11PM on 8-22-2007
on second thought...a new metal imac would have fixed my problem just as well ;-)
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tim said 4:16PM on 8-22-2007
on second thought...a new metal imac would have fixed my problem just as well ;-)
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ziggyonice said 4:15PM on 8-22-2007
jeez, i personally would have liked taking a bunch of brand new macs, but i guess i can see the advantage in trying to take customers identity, etc.
cut a hole in the ceiling? dedicated robbers.
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Henry said 4:30PM on 8-22-2007
I can't believe this... Like Jon said change your passwords. I have my mac with a password. It was a little tricky to get it on because its hard to find but one i found it i did it. I also have my website to automaticly login.
Tim, you are one lucky man... Reminds me of what happened to my friend cousin, he was late to his flight and it turned out to be one of the 9/11 flights - lucky.
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Lucas Couvreur said 4:43PM on 8-22-2007
Adium ftw
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Lucas Couvreur said 4:43PM on 8-22-2007
"though knowing Mac users as I do I imagine those machines don't even require a password to login"
Amen for that :)
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Lucas Couvreur said 4:44PM on 8-22-2007
Stupid 1Passwd :)
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ooglek said 4:50PM on 8-22-2007
If they used Undercover from orbicule they would probably get their Macbook or Macbook pro back. Just a potentially happy customer.
http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/
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ooglek said 4:52PM on 8-22-2007
Always set a firmware password so they can't gain root access to your system without pulling the drive out. Second, use Firefox and set a master security password. It protects all of the saved passwords in your browser.
Of course, if you left your browser open and suspended, you are screwed.
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Mo said 4:58PM on 8-22-2007
Passwords-wise, do what I do: create a second keychain, store it on a USB stick, and put your web passwords on there (set it as your default keychain [NOT your login keychain: keep that in your home directory] and Mac OS X will store passwords there by default). Obviously the keychain will need to be unlocked periodically, which will only work if the USB stick is inserted.
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Greg said 5:01PM on 8-22-2007
Huge supporter of Undercover here! Definitely get that.
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Eric said 5:41PM on 8-22-2007
Thinking about it, the security at Apple stores isn't very high even during the day... I don't remember the computers being secured, and people walk in and out with their own all the time. You could snatch a MacBook pretty easy.
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Wissig said 7:46PM on 8-22-2007
The beauty of Macs is NOT having to take them in to get fixed. After twenty three years and five Macs, I am proud to say ZERO trips to get one fixed and only two customer service calls. THIS is why I love my Mac... if things go wrong I can fix them.
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arjun said 8:12PM on 8-22-2007
don't the new macbook pros (and maybe more macs) have that safety feature where once they are reported stolen they are like locked down as soon as they connect to the internet and their location is tracked via IP??
or was that just an elaborate dream i had haha
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Libb said 10:50PM on 8-22-2007
My iBook is set up to require my (highly complex, hard to crack) password when waking up, and has an Open Firmware password set up as well. I used to run FileVault too, but only having 40 gigs to work with makes it hard to use FV efficiently. If my system got stolen, I would likely be safe, but I would recommend getting something like Undercover so that if it does get stolen, the police can track it down and bust the stupid perp.
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