Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking Could Hurt Cell Towers

AHuxley writes "Apple suggests that the nation's cellphone networks could be open to 'potentially catastrophic' cyberattacks by iPhone-using hackers at home and abroad if iPhone owners are permitted to legally jailbreak their wireless devices. The Copyright Office is currently considering a request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation to legalize the widespread practice of jailbreaking. Apple has responded to the request by saying that if the 'baseband processor' software — which enables a connection to cell phone towers — is exposed, then a user could crash the tower software, or use the Exclusive Chip Identification number to make calls anonymously. Apple also thinks its closed business model is what made the iPhone a success. The Vodafone scandal from a few years back showed how a network could be compromised, but that was from within. So, what do you think? Is Apple playing the 'evil genius' hacker card or can 'anyone' with a smartphone and a genius friend pop a US cell tower?"

Comments

Sorry, I have to do this

[2names]

Ok people, the expression is:

If [performing some action] is outlawed,
Only outlaws will [result of performing previous action].

In the case of cracking iPhones:

If cracking iPhones is outlawed,
only outlaws will own cracked iPhones.

The inversion of order of the action and outlaw[ed][s] is the whole point of the expression. Please try to get this right. Thank you, that is all.

Re:Think of the towers

[kmankmankman2001]

Security by obscurity does not get you very far. If the cell tower software is so fragile, it needs to be secured correctly.

Agreed 100%.

Re:Think of the towers

[Beardo the Bearded]

Actually, I know a lot about this type of system, and they might have a point.

My experience is developing a system for first-responder radios. I am an Electrical Engineer, and one day I found a flaw in the architecture. (I was fired for repeatedly calling the safety of the system into question.) I imagine the system is similar.

There is a simple way to completely fux0r the system with:
a) a handheld radio,
b) a computer, and
c) knowledge of the control channel message layout.

Your cell phone has points a) and b) in one convenient package. It also has point c) inside, as a black box. You don't have to know it if the phone "knows it".

If I had a cell phone, I could probably set it up so that it generated random numbers as its ID and sent that to the control channel repeatedly. I'd guess that it would take me the better part of a day, and then any cell tower within range would be rendered useless because it would spend all day responding to my crapflooding.

That's with one phone.