[telecom] Hands on: Securing iOS, pwning your kids with Apple Configurator 1.2

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Hands on: Securing iOS, pwning your kids with Apple Configurator 1.2

How I used Apple's mobile device config update for entertainment and vengeance.

by Sean Gallagher Oct 14 2012

Apple recently released the latest version of Configurator, the company's management software for iOS devices, for download in the Mac App Store. Configurator version 1.2 is intended to give organizations a way to mass-configure iPads, iPhones, and even iPods with applications, settings, and security policies. It's also, as it turns out, the perfect tool to prank a teenage son, teaching him the hazards of leaving his iPad unattended and of interrupting conference calls with extended drum solos.

Configurator version 1.2 is enhanced to take advantage of the enterprise management features in iOS 6. It provides all the policy configuration muscle Apple gives to mobile device management tool developers with its management interfaces, in a free Mac OS X application. That includes the ability to lock down the lock screen, put a device into "app lock" mode, making it boot straight into an application, and blocking users' access to the rest of iOS's features. All those features let you turn a device into a secure wireless kiosk, a point-of sale system, or (as I did to my son's iPad) a dedicated My Little Pony Ruckus Reader platform with an appropriately-themed lock screen.

Of course, I backed all his stuff up first. I'm not that evil.

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