Top Secret Phone Stolen At Mobile World Congress

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25076154-5014239,00.html' target='_blank'>http://www.news.com.au/technology/s...5014239,00.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"A MOBILE phone loaded with top-secret software given to Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has apparently been stolen by a pickpocket. The new-generation software was on a phone given to Mr Trujillo in Barcelona, Spain this week at the World Mobile Congress - a haven for pickpockets."</em></p><p>What I've found most interesting about this saga is, according to some <a href="http://savasplace.com/journal.php?sxEntryID=386" target="_blank">other sites</a>, MS was able to send a command to not only wipe the data (something available since Windows Mobile 5), but it also wiped the ROM, removing the top secret operating system on the device.</p>

[aussienick]

Microsoft are yet to confirm that this report that originated from APC is actually correct. I have read through the technical document associated with MS Exchange, System Center Mobile Device Manager and Windows Mobile and there is no mention of being able to render the device useless.

Microsoft may have addedd this feature to the next version of these products and have not released the information yet, but that would required a 2nd partition on the device to be able to start the 'erase OS' function as you could not format the partition you are running the format program from.

[Stinger]

It could be a feature that's only in development ROMs and not generally released. How exactly do you erase something from Read Only Memory though? :p

[Ed Hansberry]

My take on it is someone misunderstood what happened. I bet only the data was wiped and the device is in tact. Of course, having beta software (or Alpha?) will be of limited use as surely MS has a self destruct date on it.

[Brad Adrian]

I seem to vaguely recall a WM developer a few years ago that offered a self-destruct mechanism for licensed software; it would do a hard reset once the license expired. IIRC, they backed down due to incredible public backlash. I can't remember the details, though.

That's not the same as wiping a ROM, but c'mon, does any of us really believe that a company like Microsoft couldn't engineer a back door to do just that? If the people on "Misson Impossible" can do it every week, surely Microsoft can!
;)

[Jason Dunn]

I think this is just an example of a journalist misunderstanding the facts.

[Rocco Augusto]

I find it hard to believe that they were able to wipe the OS from the device... and I find it even harder to believe that whomever stole the device didn't remove the SIM card immediately or put the phone in airplane mode so they could rip the ROM from the device ;)

[Darius Wey]

Just a bit of trivia: the CEO in question resigned today.