A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
1–10 of 184 posts
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#2"The image files tricked the iPhone into giving access to its entire memory, bypassing security and allowing the installation of spyware that would steal a user's messages."
Seems like there is a lot behind this summary of the hack.
How does an image file trick the iPhone into all that?
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#3"The image files tricked the iPhone into giving access to its entire memory, bypassing security and allowing the installation of spyware that would steal a user's messages." Seems like there is a lot behind this summary of the hack. How does an image file trick the iPhone into all that?
Here's the writeup:
https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i...
edit, previous discussion:
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#4"The image files tricked the iPhone into giving access to its entire memory, bypassing security and allowing the installation of spyware that would steal a user's messages." Seems like there is a lot behind this summary of the hack. How does an image file trick the iPhone into all that?
[deleted]
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#5"The image files tricked the iPhone into giving access to its entire memory, bypassing security and allowing the installation of spyware that would steal a user's messages." Seems like there is a lot behind this summary of the hack. How does an image file trick the iPhone into all that?
Here's the writeup: https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i... edit, previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29568625
Holy shit. My relatives have asked me in the past "could this [image|video|other supposedly innocuous file format] be a virus or hack my phone?". I've always told them not to worry. Can't do that anymore.
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's the writeup: https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i... edit, previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29568625
Holy shit. My relatives have asked me in the past "could this [image|video|other supposedly innocuous file format] be a virus or hack my phone?". I've always told them not to worry. Can't do that anymore.
There are two different types of attacks.
One is fly-by attacks by random viruses and ransomware. For those cases, I would not worry about pictures.
Other is when you are targeted by regimes with essentially unlimited budget. In that case yes, the picture can be a spyware.
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Holy shit. My relatives have asked me in the past "could this [image|video|other supposedly innocuous file format] be a virus or hack my phone?". I've always told them not to worry. Can't do that anymore.
There are two different types of attacks. One is fly-by attacks by random viruses and ransomware. For those cases, I would not worry about pictures. Other is when you are targeted by regimes with essentially unlimited budget. In that case yes, the picture can be a spyware.
How does one know which category they are in?
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two different types of attacks. One is fly-by attacks by random viruses and ransomware. For those cases, I would not worry about pictures. Other is when you are targeted by regimes with essentially unlimited budget. In that case yes, the picture can be a spyware.
How does one know which category they are in?
If you are a feminist activist in saudi arabia, I guess you know the deal
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here's the writeup: https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-deep-dive-i... edit, previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29568625
Holy shit. My relatives have asked me in the past "could this [image|video|other supposedly innocuous file format] be a virus or hack my phone?". I've always told them not to worry. Can't do that anymore.
In the late 1990s there were a ton of hoaxes about image files supposedly being viruses. Most famously:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodtimes_virus
I remember telling lots of people at the time that this was impossible, because images weren't executable code, and viruses spread through running programs, not through viewing images.
Unfortunately, this elegant, straightforward distinction didn't hold up over time. :-(
Re: A Saudi woman's iPhone revealed hacking around the world
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two different types of attacks. One is fly-by attacks by random viruses and ransomware. For those cases, I would not worry about pictures. Other is when you are targeted by regimes with essentially unlimited budget. In that case yes, the picture can be a spyware.
How does one know which category they are in?
If you are asking, you are probably in the first category, along with myself and the vast majority of people.