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The Biggest iPhone Security Risk Could Be Connecting One To a Computer
angry tapir (1463043) writes Apple has done well to insulate its iOS mobile operating system from many security issues, but a forthcoming demonstration shows it's far from perfect. Next Wednesday at the Usenix Security Symposium in San Diego, researchers with the Georgia Institute of Technology will show how iOS's Achilles' heel is exposed when devices are connected over USB to a computer or have Wi-Fi synching enabled. The beauty of their attack is that it doesn't rely on iOS software vulnerabilities, the customary way that hackers commandeer computers. It simply takes advantage of design issues in iOS, working around Apple's layered protections to accomplish a sinister goal.
Otherwise there is literally no secure mobile phone platform out there for the masses.
Stopped reading at "Their attack requires the victim's computer to have malware installed".
If you create a trusted connection between your computer and your iPhone, it's a trusted connection. If you don't trust your computer, you shouldn't use it to make a trusted connection to other devices. It's really just that simple.
Which dumbphone brands have had published security vulnerabilities over the past half decade?
To my knowledge, to utilize an iOS device with developer provisioning profiles, you have to enable the device for development access via XCode.
Even with an ad-hoc distribution, the device must be listed in the provisioning profile with the exceptions being enterprise and app-store apps.
Did this attack vector circumvent these protections? Or, was he using iOS devices configured for development and, thus, not a real-world attack?
if you connect you iDevice to a computer, unlock your device, and explicitly tell your device that the computer is trustworthy... The computer is able to install apps and interact with the filesystem on your device! Who would have thought?
For the love of God, it's iOS when talking about Apple devices. IOS is a Cisco OS. This really irks me for some reason when this mistake is made.
Here I thought the biggest security threat was turning the device on.... Second to actually having the device on your person, followed by putting it on the charger.
If the device is totally discharged and not running, there is no threat beyond getting mugged for having it.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
This is one reason why charging-only cables or cable adapters which do not carry the "data lines" should be cheap and just as widely-available and widely-marketed as other USB cables.
Bonus points if they are transparent so the end user can visually verify that the only connected lines are the power and ground lines.
OBDIYHACK: http://www.instructables.com/i...
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
What a crock comment. Clearly an Apple Hater.
if someone, with the necessary skills, wants to expend sufficient time and effort to decompile the OS looking for a way to get in and/or alter the image, they will eventually succeed.
Given that the OS is downloadable AND the fact that it still took 4-5 months to jailbreak it I think, in and of itself, is pretty amazing. Jailbreaking a device requires someone determined to do it - it's not done over the air by somebody without physical access to the device.
The IPhones biggest security threat is the US Federal Government.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Once you intentionally circumvent the security of the 'walled garden', I don't think you get to complain about vulnerabilities anymore.
To go with the ever-popular car analogy:
If a guy with a screwdriver is able to start my unmodified car without the smart-key being present, that is a security flaw.
If I modify my car to bypass the 'smart-key is present' requirement to start it, I don't get to complain when my car is stolen by some guy with a screwdriver.
Its also very hard to remotely jailbreak the phone of another user that you don't have physical access to and expose vulnerabilities such as ssh login.
Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain
It simply takes advantage of design issues in iOS, working around Apple's layered protections to accomplish a sinister goal.
...Improving the ambidextrous use of the device?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
The beauty of their attack is that it doesn't rely on iOS software vulnerabilities, the customary way that hackers commandeer computers. It simply takes advantage of design issues in iOS
Then the design issue is a vulnerability, surely?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
int main() {
return 0;
}
exploit THAT.
HAHAHAHAH.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The beauty of their attack is that it doesn't rely on iOS software vulnerabilities, the customary way that hackers commandeer computers. It simply takes advantage of design issues in iOS
Then the design issue is a vulnerability, surely?
Not really.
They're basically saying that, if (A) you've set up your phone to sync with your PC, and (B) your PC gets cracked/infected, then your phone can also be cracked/infected.
It's a vulnerability in the way that doing a series of stupid things in succession is always a vulnerability.
what if you want to put your own radio in? get a oil change or replace the battery with having to go to the dealer?
What is what jail braking is to a car and if that makes it so that someone can steal your car with a screwdriver then you should be able to complain.
Can this be used to jailbreak iphones? That's all I care(d) about.
Then buy a car of a different make that is less hostile to third-party radios or third-party oil changes.
Why are you capitalizing apple? It's a well established piece of fruit.
int main() {
return 0;
}
exploit THAT.
HAHAHAHAH.
Its been done. Seriously, it has.
"It describes a backdoor mechanism based on the fact that people only review source (human-written) code, and not compiled machine code. A program called a compiler is used to create the second from the first, and the compiler is usually trusted to do an honest job.
Thompson's paper describes a modified version of the Unix C compiler that would:
Put an invisible backdoor in the Unix login command when it noticed that the login program was being compiled, and as a twist
Also add this feature undetectably to future compiler versions upon their compilation as well."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...
Anything can be jailbreaked if you have full physical access to the operating system and the hardware, Jesus.
It's not rocket surgery.
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There was one iOS version (4.something) that was vulnerable to drive by jailbreaking, though. If I remember, the only known exploit in the wild was a website for the purpose of intentionally jailbreaking that installed Cydia as well as a patch to close the vulnerability. Ironically, at the time the only way to properly secure your iPhone against the vulnerability was to let it be hacked by that website first.
I remember going to an Apple store and installing Cydia on all of the iPhones on display there via that website. Fun times.