About the security content of iOS 12.4.9 • Hacker News Board

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#31

Post by CuriousSkeptic » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

snazz wrote: post #26

ezekg wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you still have one that's running OK? My Apple products almost always "die" after a few years. I had the 5S but one day it crashed and would not turn back on no matter what I did. The iPhone I had before that did the same thing.

Is that a common issue? I've certainly heard about devices losing battery life and cameras progressively getting worse, but complete death is very uncommon unless you use it without a case and drop it all the time or something. I still have a working iPhone 5 (no S) with a home button that spins and a slightly broken screen bezel but no other issues.

I have a 4S still running.

At one point I thought it died permanently. But it turned out to only be the screen dimming to much. In bright light it auto adjusted enough to be visible, allowing me to rise the brightness.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#32

Post by rosstex » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

Tepix wrote: post #15

als0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 5S is still the perfect iPhone.

If the 5S is perfect, what's the iPhone SE (2016)?

My current phone.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#33

Post by dmitrygr » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

curt15 wrote: post #22

namanaggarwal wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also to Google for finding majority of them

If only Google could put this much effort into supporting its own Pixel devices, which stop getting updates to the base OS after just three years.

I promise you, people inside google are equally frustrated with this unjustifiable top-down decision. (am Xoogler)

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#34

Post by snazz » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:38 PM UTC

win32k wrote: post #30

heavyset_go wrote: post #8

I think it's interesting how iOS exploits are cheaper[1] than Android exploits, because iOS exploits are so plentiful in comparison to Android exploits. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/09/for-t...

Why are you citing a year+ old article? It's clearly out of date. iOS is a much more secure platform, and exploits are much rarer than Android exploits. HN has really gone down in quality of readers/commenters.

Functionally, iOS is a much more secure platform. Far more people are updated to the latest iOS version, which makes a huge difference. Apple invests tons of money into secure biometrics, privacy initiatives, and lots more.

At the same time, Android might still have fewer vulnerabilities in the latest versions. It's possible that Android's security technology or coding practices result in fewer security bugs. I don't think that Android has any attack surface equivalent to iMessage (which is written in Objective-C and uses some fairly low-level techniques, if I remember correctly).

A lot fewer people use the latest version of Android, though, so most of that effort goes to waste.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#35

Post by snazz » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:39 PM UTC

MrStonedOne wrote: post #20

Anybody get a bitter sweet feeling when ever these reported and fixed security exploits announcements happen? It's good that users aren't going to risk getting hacked by such vulnerabilities, but its bad that users can no longer uses these exploits to gain administrative control over their property.

Apple isn't going to force you to update your device, so you can stay on an older version if you want jailbreaks.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#36

Post by wiredfool » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:40 PM UTC

snazz wrote: post #26

ezekg wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you still have one that's running OK? My Apple products almost always "die" after a few years. I had the 5S but one day it crashed and would not turn back on no matter what I did. The iPhone I had before that did the same thing.

Is that a common issue? I've certainly heard about devices losing battery life and cameras progressively getting worse, but complete death is very uncommon unless you use it without a case and drop it all the time or something. I still have a working iPhone 5 (no S) with a home button that spins and a slightly broken screen bezel but no other issues.

I had a 5s die at one point, it got reset to the point where it needed to activate, and couldn’t.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#37

Post by zokier » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

snazz wrote: post #23

jamiehall wrote: post #9

Linking to the 14.2 list ( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211929 ) might be better? After clicking the headline link, it took me a few seconds to understand why we were caring about updates for the iPhone 5 and 6...

I think it's worth linking the 12.4.9 page because it's impressive that the software update is available going all the way back to the iPhone 5s. That's some serious longevity.

> That's some serious longevity

Well, yes, its better than your average Android vendor. But on the other hand Windows 8 was released 2012 (i.e. about a year before iPhone 5s), and is scheduled to get updates until 2023. That is pretty serious longevity. And supporting handful of Apple devices must be comparatively simpler than supporting the hodgepodge fleet of Windows 8 devices.

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#38

Post by wnevets » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:45 PM UTC

ponker wrote: post #12

alewi481 wrote: post #10

I'd like to give kudos to Apple for including the iPhone 5S in this security update, which was released on September 20, 2013, over 7 years ago! Supporting a product for even 3 years is rare in the smartphone world.

This is why Apple makes the cheapest smartphones, as long as you avoid dropping them.

until Apple throttles the hardware with their software updates [1]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/13/21322867/apple-iphone-bat...

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#39

Post by Y-bar » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

alewi481 wrote: post #10

I'd like to give kudos to Apple for including the iPhone 5S in this security update, which was released on September 20, 2013, over 7 years ago! Supporting a product for even 3 years is rare in the smartphone world.

Wouldn't last official sale date be a better indicator of true device support? For example if someone bought it in an Apple store on the last day available, how long period would they have received updates for?

For example in mid 2017 it was still officially sold by Apple in India (source: https://www.iphonehacks.com/2017/05/apple-iphone-5s-iphone-s...).

Re: About the security content of iOS 12.4.9

#40

Post by hokumguru » Thu, Nov 05, 2020, 8:51 PM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #38

ponker wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why Apple makes the cheapest smartphones, as long as you avoid dropping them.

until Apple throttles the hardware with their software updates [1] https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/13/21322867/apple-iphone-bat...

Wasn't the purpose of that throttling to extend the life of older phones? Throttling the CPU let them stay within the limits of the worn out battery and let the device continue to be used without crashing.