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Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

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Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#11

Post by jamesaguilar »

eridius wrote: post #8
jamesaguilar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In almost all circumstances, I agree. However, the one circumstance I don't agree is when systems are being kept secure mainly against their own users. In this case, insecure systems are preferable (as a user), especially when the attack vector is likely to only be triggered intentionally. Since I don't plug my iphone into random USB cables pretty much ever, the only likely case where this vulnerability could be expl…

Please stop speaking in generics. I assure you that, for the vast majority of iPhone users, insecure systems are not preferable.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#12

Post by cheald »

kyrias wrote: post #5

With hardware access all bets are off.

I dunno - with USB debugging turned off, you can't do much to an Android device even if you can plug an arbitrary device into its USB port. There's a reason I make sure it's turned off every time I leave the house!

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#13

Post by eridius »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #11
eridius wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please stop speaking in generics. I assure you that, for the vast majority of iPhone users, insecure systems are not preferable.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

I think you underestimate how willing people are to share chargers. If you make one of these malicious chargers, and mock it up to look similar enough to an Apple one, I bet you could compromise a decent number of phones just by hanging out in a popular place (e.g. a coffee shop, or an airport) and making your charger available to folks.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#14

Post by uxp »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #11
eridius wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please stop speaking in generics. I assure you that, for the vast majority of iPhone users, insecure systems are not preferable.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

Non-apple connectors are still just USB cables, which have to be plugged into somewhere. That somewhere could be malicious.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#16

Post by jamesaguilar »

eridius wrote: post #13
jamesaguilar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

I think you underestimate how willing people are to share chargers. If you make one of these malicious chargers, and mock it up to look similar enough to an Apple one, I bet you could compromise a decent number of phones just by hanging out in a popular place (e.g. a coffee shop, or an airport) and making your charger available to folks.

I guess I didn't consider that aspect. I have to concede this point.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#17

Post by dlhavema »

eridius wrote: post #13
jamesaguilar wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

I think you underestimate how willing people are to share chargers. If you make one of these malicious chargers, and mock it up to look similar enough to an Apple one, I bet you could compromise a decent number of phones just by hanging out in a popular place (e.g. a coffee shop, or an airport) and making your charger available to folks.

The airport is a perfect example, offering USB ports for iPhone, Android, etc and there would actually be a computer behind the scenes skimming whatever it wanted, or adding whatever it could to the devices connected... A lot of people are eager to plugin to charging stations while waiting for their flights.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#18

Post by Dylan16807 »

eridius wrote: post #8
jamesaguilar wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In almost all circumstances, I agree. However, the one circumstance I don't agree is when systems are being kept secure mainly against their own users. In this case, insecure systems are preferable (as a user), especially when the attack vector is likely to only be triggered intentionally. Since I don't plug my iphone into random USB cables pretty much ever, the only likely case where this vulnerability could be expl…

Please stop speaking in generics. I assure you that, for the vast majority of iPhone users, insecure systems are not preferable.

Please stop speaking in generics. There is a big difference between physical security and the traditional security against malicious code.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#19

Post by bigiain »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #11
eridius wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please stop speaking in generics. I assure you that, for the vast majority of iPhone users, insecure systems are not preferable.

For the vast majority of them, they'll never plug their phone into a non-Apple connector, so the security status of this subsystem will not have any practical importance either way.

You haven't been to a conference/tradeshow/festival lately? "Free phone charging stations" are really common these days.

Re: Any iPhone can be hacked with a modified charger in under a minute

#20

Post by bigiain »

ef4 wrote: post #7
kyrias wrote: post #5

With hardware access all bets are off.

Yeah, but I think this is a bit worse than that. If a faulty ethernet driver lets you compromise a laptop just by plugging it into a malicious network, that's a legitimate vulnerability, not really a case of "well, they had physical access". USB may be customarily treated as more trusted than ethernet, but there are clearly still scenarios where untrusted people may be able to send you USB messages.

"Here, mind if I plug my video camera into your Firewire port to charge (and trawl through your ram and swapspace looking for any usernames and passwords)?"
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