WhatsApp is broken, really broken

Post by mmcnickle » Sat, Sep 15, 2012, 10:54 AM UTC

ot wrote: post #119

mmcnickle wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is by design[1]. The first 3 bytes are the same for the same manufacturer. The last 3 bytes can be assigned as they wish. Apple probably assign the 4th byte as a product identifier, so would be consistent across iPhones. I wonder what the 4th byte is for other iOS devices, or if it's the same? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationally_Unique_Identif...

That's very unlikely: an address space of just 65K numbers would be left, which is orders of magnitude less than the number of iPhones produced. Considering that each phone has at least two MACs (wifi and bluetooth), even the 16 millions that would be given by using the full 3 bytes look scarce. I think that Apple has several OUIs. In fact, my iPhone's MAC doesn't have a single byte in common with the parent's.

Post by antirez » Sat, Sep 15, 2012, 11:13 AM UTC

mmcnickle wrote: post #121

ot wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very unlikely: an address space of just 65K numbers would be left, which is orders of magnitude less than the number of iPhones produced. Considering that each phone has at least two MACs (wifi and bluetooth), even the 16 millions that would be given by using the full 3 bytes look scarce. I think that Apple has several OUIs. In fact, my iPhone's MAC doesn't have a single byte in common with the parent's.

You're right, I didn't do the maths. This list[1] from 2010 shows that Apple has dozens of OUIs and I imagine the list is much, much longer now. [1] http://www.scribd.com/doc/42074577/Apple-OUI-List

   4s - F0:CB:A1:xx:yy:zz (me)
   4s - F0:CB:A1:xx:yy:zz (wife)
   4s - F0:CB:A1:xx:yy:zz (friend)

Post by hboon » Sat, Sep 15, 2012, 1:06 PM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #102

GauntletWizard wrote: post #99

How do apps like WhatsApp get popular? They offer inferior service in every way to builtins, and require that both parties have installed something. SMS is in every way better unless you don't have a texting plan, in that case, GTalk and iMessage are in every way better (And GTalk is even cross platform with several fairly simple XMPP clients on IOS). Who uses this shit? I encountered the same thing recently with Rai…

WhatsApp was there first. Network effects cemented their position. iMessage doesn't work for non-iOS phones. Annoyingly, GTalk doesn't have an official client on iOS. SMSes can get expensive.

Post by ot » Sat, Sep 15, 2012, 1:33 PM UTC

antirez wrote: post #122

ot wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very unlikely: an address space of just 65K numbers would be left, which is orders of magnitude less than the number of iPhones produced. Considering that each phone has at least two MACs (wifi and bluetooth), even the 16 millions that would be given by using the full 3 bytes look scarce. I think that Apple has several OUIs. In fact, my iPhone's MAC doesn't have a single byte in common with the parent's.

My address was modified completely just to remove information about my actual address. Likely your first three bytes are: F0:CB:A1.

Post by msh » Sat, Sep 15, 2012, 3:54 PM UTC

X-Istence wrote: post #45

msh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skype would be a decent bet.

I wouldn't consider Skype secure when all traffic for Skype goes through private servers run by Microsoft and there is as far as I am aware no end to end encryption between end users. Also, Skype's protocol and entire stack is entirely opaque and thus hasn't been nearly as checked for security issues as something like XMPP with SSL for example.