Apple’s iPhone 11 is just a few months away from being released, and the recent iOS 12 release shows interesting features, many of them focused on privacy and user protection. But here’s where Cellebrite, an Israeli forensics company told users that iPhones and iPads are easy to break into, even the ones that run the latest version of iOS.
Tim Cook stated at the beginning of this year that by December 2018, the active iOS devices around the work just hit the 1.4 billion milestone – and iPhones count for 900 million devices. Looking at the huge number of iOS devices and what Cellebrite found, the news is concerning.
“Public Safety” Sold on eBay
AppleInsider reported that Cellebrite was able to perform a “full file system extraction on any iOS device.” Cellebrite can do the same on Android smartphones. In 2018, Cellebrite’s Jeremy Nazarian (Chief Marketing Officer) explained their technology and its application:
“There’s a public safety imperative here. It’s not like this is over the wire listening technology… it requires physical access. It’s not like anyone is listening to your iPhone or my iPhone. There’s nothing inherent in the technology that means it’s open to misuse.”
Cellebrite is believed to have cooperated with the FBI when they wanted to crack the iPhone 5c of Syed Rizwan Farook, the San Bernardino killer.
However, what is worrying is that Cellebrite kit was sold on eBay for $1000, which is a great tool for hackers.
With Cellebrite, we now know that there’s a way to find vulnerabilities across all versions of iOS. Perhaps iOS 13 will fix the vulnerability, but millions of iPhones will not be able to upgrade to iOS 13.
One of the biggest selling points for Apple was security, but now the company has to prove that again “by finding and shutting down this access before it – inevitably – spreads far and wide,” noted Forbes.
Sonia Theo has a long experience in writing, and now she is our associate journalist covering tech, gaming and mobile news. She has a BA in English and German and a BA in Arts and Design. Sonia likes writing about the latest updates in current and future games, guides and reviews. Her favorite past times is gaming, crafting and cooking. Sonia is always ready to help players with tips when they’re in a tough boss fight.
Leave a Reply