Slashdot Mirror
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?"
How rude, to describe me as "ignorant". I am not ignorant: I have degrees in two branches of engineering, have studied EE extensively (both analog and digital signal processing, and have written microcode silicon compilers), and am quite familiar with many branches of telecommunications, although I admit that cell networks are not an area I know in depth. I have also written a book on application security. Please don't call me ignorant: it is very trailer-parkish to do so.
Back to the discussion:
The fundamental security issue is: If the infrastructure trusts the platform, and the platform is compromised, then the infrastructure can be compromised. It is possible (I defer to you on this, since you are a professed expert on cell networks) that the cell network does not trust the parts of the handset that are accessible to the handset OS - that is, that the interactions are in firmware or on another chip. But, I will point out that it is not only the cell tower that is at risk. A handset app can communicate with other users across the network, using the network as a mere conduit, without compromising the network. Imagine a bot herd of a hundred million cellphones....
If Apple has built a secure system to protect against this, then there is nothing to worry about; but I am not so sure that is the case.