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iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

theguardian.com

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Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#81

Post by interpol_p »

taspeotis wrote: post #45
interpol_p wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems more like short sightedness than "petty revenge." The new home button hardware can't be securely validated, and a future OS update fails on the unexpected condition of invalid Touch ID hardware. I can imagine that this wasn't a prioritised testing scenario, likely not even considered by Apple when developing iOS. It's a lousy way to fail — the phone should just disable Touch ID and Apple Pay, and anything that…

The scenario they're protecting against appears (to me) to be a bad actor changing the hardware. If the Touch ID sensor is bad, and you propose falling back to a PIN, who's to say the digitizer isn't compromised too and is recording touches? Sounds a bit like a downgrade attack if they didn't fail fast and hard at the earliest opportunity.

I don't think they are protecting against that scenario so much as not accounting for it. I expect Apple's assumption is that they provide all components for their devices. People who install unauthorised third party components can no longer have those devices serviced by Apple — so it no longer matters to Apple whether those devices are compromised, because they aren't really "Apple" devices at that point anyway.

This botched handling of replaced hardware that hasn't been paired with the Secure Enclave ties into the above. Apple doesn't expect people to replace such hardware through a third-party, so they don't think to engineer their software to fail gracefully when it happens.

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#82

Post by stinos »

david_mitchell wrote: post #12

I don't see why people are upset or surprised about this. Apple is a pioneer in making electronics difficult to open up and play with. It has always been their approach to control every interaction that every customer has with every part of their business and every product produced by it. Accept it or use something else.

upset or surprised

suprised maybe not so much, but it seems pretty obvious one would get upset if his/hers go-to device is suddenly rendered practically useless?

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#83

Post by givinguflac »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #73
benevol wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember the woman who proved that Apple consistently slows down sold iPhones with "updates" right before the launch date of a new model? [0] Apple is in the business of selling (overpriced/overengineered) hardware. Their tactics make that very clear. The only problem with that is that there is no real competition in mobile phones anymore, it's just a giant duopoly. Sure, you can switch to Google/Android, which as th…

Remember the woman who proved that Apple consistently slows down sold iPhones with "updates" right before the launch date of a new model? No, because that never was a fucking thing. Seriously, this is supposed to be a community of reasonably well-informed tech-oriented people. Step back for a second, take a deep breath, and think before you spread nonsense like this. Jesus.

Thank you! This shit is getting out of hand.

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#84

Post by _cipher_ »

minikites wrote: post #63
_cipher_ wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are people with myopia discriminated against in society? Yes. I am offended by the small letters in ads.

And how has that led to you being passed over for employment or otherwise put you at a disadvantage when competing with others?

Because wearing glasses makes me feel insecure.

Yes, a person with disabilities can be ridiculed and feel like crap. A fat one can too. Also one with glasses, long hair, or long nose (or very short, let's include them too, it's the PC thing to do).

Where do you draw the "disadvantage" line?

As much as you are being offended when people are using a series of letters that forms certain words, so do I when people act like irresponsible children putting blame on random words.

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#85

Post by mootothemax »

Damned if they do, and damned if they don't.

"Anyone can access your private photos and emails! Just replace the home button with one programmed with your own fingerprints!"

Can you imagine the comments if that were a story?

The problem here is that Apple didn't find a way to tell repair shops and users that this could be an issue.

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#86

Post by venomsnake »

andybak wrote: post #67
markyc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can't say anything anymore in the us because of the pc police

Your statement could indicate a range of opinions ranging from ones I agree with to those that are merely a fig-leaf for blatant racism. I'm afraid you'll have to express yourself in some more detail and avoid hollow cliches. This is a complex and nuanced debate.

I find the way racism become THE WORST THING in the world wildly amusing. There are 7 000 000 000 people on the planet and all of them are racist. We people are wired to dislike people not like us.

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#87

Post by venomsnake »

minikites wrote: post #55
jacquesm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, I did not mean to offend anybody but my reading of the word is that it has two meanings, one of which is 'stupid or dumb'. I'll update the comment.

It's certainly isn't as bad as an ethnic slur, but I feel strongly that it shouldn't be used in polite conversation. It's a matter of being considerate to your audience.

And sugarcoating speech show disdain towards the audience. Anyway - how is the political correct way to retard a dough in a fridge?

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#89

Post by joosters »

nly wrote: post #80
interpol_p wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch ID is a fingerprint scanner, but the Touch ID system is paired with the "Secure Enclave" in Apple's AX chips. Secure Enclave is a separate coprocessor running its own L4-based microkernel. This hardware is directly paired with security-sensitive hardware (Touch ID, Apple Pay NFC chip, etc). It provides all cryptographic operations for data protection key management and maintains the integrity of data protection…

Does this mean your fingerprint never leaves the scanners coprocessor and is inaccessible to iOS and the other processors and OSs within the phone?

Yes. The OS can only tell if the fingerprint matched or not. The checking is done solely in the secure enclave. Presumably the OS also gets told which fingerprint matched too?

Re: iPhones 'disabled' if Apple detects third-party repairs

#90

Post by retromario »

nly wrote: post #80
interpol_p wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Touch ID is a fingerprint scanner, but the Touch ID system is paired with the "Secure Enclave" in Apple's AX chips. Secure Enclave is a separate coprocessor running its own L4-based microkernel. This hardware is directly paired with security-sensitive hardware (Touch ID, Apple Pay NFC chip, etc). It provides all cryptographic operations for data protection key management and maintains the integrity of data protection…

Does this mean your fingerprint never leaves the scanners coprocessor and is inaccessible to iOS and the other processors and OSs within the phone?

Yes, at least according to Apple: https://www.apple.com/business/docs/iOS_Security_Guide.pdf (page 7).

"The Secure Enclave is responsible for processing fingerprint data from the Touch ID sensor, determining if there is a match against registered fingerprints, and then enabling access or purchases on behalf of the user. Communication between the processor and the Touch ID sensor takes place over a serial peripheral interface bus. The processor forwards the data to the Secure Enclave but _cannot_ read it".

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