Apple keeps a very tight lid on iPhone security, but that might actually benefit very sophisticated hackers, according to some security experts.
This is how Saudi Arabia was allegedly able to hack Jeff Bezos’s iPhone X.
It reportedly took the FBI two months to bypass the security built in an iPhone 11. This demonstrates how difficult iPhone hacking is for even one of the world’s premier law-enforcement agencies.
New York City works every day on hacking into thousands of iPhones, Androids, iPads, etc. The district attorney of Manhattan believes these contain evidence of crimes, and spent $10 million on a lab to find ways around or through iPhone encryption.
One of the advantages of Face ID over Touch ID is that the person unlocking their iPhone must be awake. However, researchers found a way to fool Apple’s facial recognition system into thinking someone is conscious when they weren’t — using modified glasses.
This method does not allow a hacker to trick an iPhone into misidentifying one person as another. But it still could prove problematic for Face ID.
A company staffed with white-hat hackers apparently made a breakthrough in unlocking iPhones and iPads. Cellebrite says it is offering law enforcement agencies access to every bit of data on any iOS device.
Israel’s NSO Group makes a business of hacking iPhones and Android devices. In a reversal of roles, it was hacked by one of its own employees and valuable intellectual property was stolen.
While its tempting to lean back an enjoy this company’s discomfiture, the stolen property was NSO’s phone hacking tools, which were then offered on the dark web.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell if something is real or was dreamed up by a Batman villain. That’s the case with the WiSpear iPhone hacking van.
This tool supposedly can be used to install malware on an iOS or Android device from a third of a mile away.
Companies like Grayshift help police bypass the passcodes on locked iPhones. One might think that this requires some byzantine hacking skills. Apparently not.
A hacker reports that iOS has a soft spot when it comes to external keyboards, allowing someone to send as many passcode attempts as desired. The passcodes have to be submitted correctly, though.
Apple put a feature in the first iOS 12 beta designed specifically to thwart iPhone unlocking tools that use the Lightning port to get access to the device. But Grayshift, maker of a prominent unlocking tool, says it already has a workaround.
This is good news for the many law enforcement agencies around the U.S. who’ve invested in Grayshift’s GrayKey unlocker. It’s not so good for anyone who wants to be sure their iPhone can’t be hacked.
Suppose you’re listening to some music, then glance over an realize your iPhone has loaded a porn site all on its own. That’s the nightmare scenario researchers say is possible after they proved voice commands can be concealed in songs.
It’s also possible to get Siri to recognize commands given at frequencies outside the range of human hearing.
