Apple filed patent of iPhone anti-theft technology

In order to stop unauthorized users from accessing the iPhone, Apple developed a new technology and filed a patent application for it on August 19, 2010. Now, the company would be able to detect an unauthorized user and remotely terminate its service in case of a theft or hacking. The patent also covers Apple iPad and iPod Touch.

Apple’s application number 20100207721, filed on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s database, describes the method to detect unauthorized users.

The patent says, “A photograph of the current user can be taken, a recording of the current user's voice can be recorded, the heartbeat of the current user can be recorded, or any combination of the above,…..The photograph, recording, or heartbeat can be compared, respectively, to a photograph, recording, or heartbeat of authorized users of the electronic device to determine whether they match,”

The patent also states that Apple could erase sensitive information if necessary.

In July 2010, the U.S. government announced jailbreaking to be legal which gave rise to the possibility of iPhones, especially the jailbroken ones, being hacked by luring users to access a website. In early August, Apple released updates for it iOS 4.0.2 running on iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch which enables users to protect their phones from being hacked. Immediately, Comex, developer of the JailbreakMe 2.0, released the source code which experts believe would be used by other hackers to develop new hacking tools.