iphone – Page 3 – SSL and internet security news

Massive iPhone Hack Targets Uyghurs

September 3, 2019 infossl

android, apple, hacking, iphone, malware, Security technology, smartphones, windows, zeroday

China is being blamed for a massive surveillance operation that targeted Uyghur Muslims. This story broke in waves, the first wave being about the iPhone. Earlier this year, Google’s Project Zero found a series of websites that have been using zero-day vulnerabilities to indiscriminately install malware on iPhones that would visit the site. (The vulnerabilities … Read More “Massive iPhone Hack Targets Uyghurs” »

Cellebrite Claims It Can Unlock Any iPhone

June 28, 2019 infossl

apple, cellphones, hacking, ios, iphone, lawenforcement, locks, Security technology

The digital forensics company Cellebrite now claims it can unlock any iPhone. I dithered before blogging this, not wanting to give the company more publicity. But I decided that everyone who wants to know already knows, and that Apple already knows. It’s all of us that need to know. Powered by WPeMatico

iPhone Apps Surreptitiously Communicated with Unknown Servers

June 25, 2019 infossl

apple, datacollection, iphone, privacy, Security technology

Long news article (alternate source) on iPhone privacy, specifically the enormous amount of data your apps are collecting without your knowledge. A lot of this happens in the middle of the night, when you’re probably not otherwise using your phone: IPhone apps I discovered tracking me by passing information to third parties just while … Read More “iPhone Apps Surreptitiously Communicated with Unknown Servers” »

How Apple’s “Find My” Feature Works

June 20, 2019 infossl

apple, cryptography, iphone, privacy, scams, Security technology, tracking, wifi

Matthew Green intelligently speculates about how Apple’s new “Find My” feature works. If you haven’t already been inspired by the description above, let me phrase the question you ought to be asking: how is this system going to avoid being a massive privacy nightmare? Let me count the concerns: If your device is constantly emitting … Read More “How Apple’s “Find My” Feature Works” »

iOS Shortcut for Recording the Police

June 7, 2019 infossl

cameras, iphone, police, Security technology

“Hey Siri; I’m getting pulled over” can be a shortcut: Once the shortcut is installed and configured, you just have to say, for example, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over.” Then the program pauses music you may be playing, turns down the brightness on the iPhone, and turns on “do not disturb” mode. It also … Read More “iOS Shortcut for Recording the Police” »

Fingerprinting iPhones

May 22, 2019 infossl

academicpapers, apple, cellphones, identification, iphone, phones, Security technology, sensors

This clever attack allows someone to uniquely identify a phone when you visit a website, based on data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer sensors. We have developed a new type of fingerprinting attack, the calibration fingerprinting attack. Our attack uses data gathered from the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer sensors found in smartphones to construct … Read More “Fingerprinting iPhones” »

iPhone FaceTime Vulnerability

January 29, 2019 infossl

apple, eavesdropping, iphone, Security technology, vulnerabilities

This is kind of a crazy iPhone vulnerability: it’s possible to call someone on FaceTime and listen on their microphone — and see from their camera — before they accept the call. This is definitely an embarrassment, and Apple was right to disable Group FaceTime until it’s fixed. But it’s hard to imagine how an … Read More “iPhone FaceTime Vulnerability” »

iOS 12.1 Vulnerability

November 8, 2018 infossl

apple, ios, iphone, Security technology, vulnerabilities

This is really just to point out that computer security is really hard: Almost as soon as Apple released iOS 12.1 on Tuesday, a Spanish security researcher discovered a bug that exploits group Facetime calls to give anyone access to an iPhone users’ contact information with no need for a passcode. […] A bad actor … Read More “iOS 12.1 Vulnerability” »

Cell Phone Security and Heads of State

October 30, 2018 infossl

china, eavesdropping, essays, iphone, nationalsecuritypolicy, phones, russia, Security technology

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that the Russians and the Chinese were eavesdropping on President Donald Trump’s personal cell phone and using the information gleaned to better influence his behavior. This should surprise no one. Security experts have been talking about the potential security vulnerabilities in Trump’s cell phone use since he … Read More “Cell Phone Security and Heads of State” »

Defeating the iPhone Restricted Mode

July 18, 2018 infossl

apple, cellphones, cryptanalysis, cryptography, iphone, Security technology

Recently, Apple introduced restricted mode to protect iPhones from attacks by companies like Cellebrite and Greyshift, which allow attackers to recover information from a phone without the password or fingerprint. Elcomsoft just announced that it can easily bypass it. There is an important lesson in this: security is hard. Apple Computer has one of the … Read More “Defeating the iPhone Restricted Mode” »