CNET reports that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will today test Apple’s Activation Lock feature to see how it holds up against thieves.
First introduced at WWDC, Activation Lock is designed to prevent Find My iPhone from being deactivated, which keeps stolen iPhones from being wiped and reactivated. The feature is included in iOS 7, which is expected to be released to consumers this fall.
Security experts from the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center are being brought in by Schneiderman and Gascón to make attempts to bypass Activation Lock to try and gain access to an iPhone. The same team will also test the Lojack for Android software on a Samsung Galaxy S4.
“While we are appreciative of the efforts made by Apple and Samsung to improve security of the devices they sell, we are not going to take them at their word,” Schneiderman and Gascón said in a joint statement. “Today we will assess the solutions they are proposing and see if they stand up to the tactics commonly employed by thieves.”
Schneiderman and Gascón have pushed for more stringent anti-theft measure from phone manufacturers after a spike in mobile device thefts. Both men have stated that they believe Activation Lock is an inadequate theft deterrent, and have urged Apple to implement a “kill switch” that would permanently disable a stolen iOS device.
Results of the Activation Lock and Lojack testing are expected to be released later today.
