I'm providing additional context so people know (or at least can know) that I'm not a thief. My close friend was recently granted an order of protection against an ex boyfriend who physically assaulted them three separate times. Among the laundry list of possessions that they left at my friend's apartment, one is an A1466 (Early 2017) MacBook Air. We believe the ex boyfriend probably stole the device or held it as collateral for drugs or .... something. Basically I know that he didn't acquire it through honest channels, but that doesn't change the fact that it is now my friend's possession.
The device has an asset tag on it, however the tag offers no clue as to who or what organization (company or university, etc) is the rightful owner of the computer. And, since the device has been in my friend's apartment for at least six months and was made in 2017, I'm assuming whoever rightfully owned it has replaced it at this point. Regardless, there's really no way (that I know of) of finding out who to return this device to.
The computer boots to a flashing folder with a question mark. When I try to boot in recovery mode, I get a lock and a password prompt (which of course, neither of us know). I read online that there is a hardware hack that can reset the firmware memory, but I believe this model of MacBook Air has soldered RAM and that hack won't be successful. I have some PC experience, but my Apple experience and knowledge is much smaller.
All that to say, I have two questions:
1) Does anyone know of a software that can either rip the rightful owner's info from the device? Or a software that can reset the machine to factory settings? If Apple has a software that can do this, it stands to reason that either a pirated copy of that software or a FOSS equivalent exists.
2) I have an El Capitain Recovery USB made with Etcher- is it possible to boot from this, bypassing the firmware password?
I appreciate any insight or input. If you have lectures about stolen devices and so forth, please save them for someone else. I'm trying to make the best out of a sh*tty situation, I get that it is not ideal but that's today's deck of cards I've been dealt.
Thanks.
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from hacking: security in practice https://ift.tt/WgUAOP7
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