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Apple hiring security manager to fight Iphone jailbreaking

I

Iphone3gs

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
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http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/techno...to-fight-iphone-jailbreaking-115875-21798021/


Apple hiring security manager to fight iPhone jailbreaking


It had been rumoured that the latest batch of iPhone 3GS handsets off the production were jailbreak proof but it seems not. Apple is now advertising for a security manager to fight jailbreaking while hackers have just announced a new method. Read on for more on the war…

If you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone but have been holding back from the iPhone OS 3.1.2 update, two new jailbreaking solutions have arrived blackrain and blacksn0w. But your jailbreaking ways could soon be at an end.

Apple is currently looking for a manager to lead a new team dedicated to boosting the iPhone’s security and shutting down jailbreaks.

Security exploits are what make the iPhone jailbreaking possible and Apple’s looking to shut those holes in the OS down. It is looking to hire an iPhone OS Platform Security Manager to focus “on the platform security of iPhone OS.”

please comment
 
Ha I'm still on 3.0.1. Honestly though, I don't think I could use the iPhone anymore if there was literally no way to jailbreak it at all. Luckily, the competition is finally stepping up with some decent hardware.

Then again, I agree with what dread said by just hiring geohot/the dev team. :D
 
Seeing as the jailbreaks presumably involve security breaches of the iPhone, doesn't seem too hard to see it as only one area for somone looking at general security. Seeing as they're looking to bring it into enterprise as well as consumer areas, it makes sense for them to keep strengthening its security.
 
t0mat0 said:
Seeing as the jailbreaks presumably involve security breaches of the iPhone, doesn't seem too hard to see it as only one area for somone looking at general security. Seeing as they're looking to bring it into enterprise as well as consumer areas, it makes sense for them to keep strengthening its security.
Click to expand...

Right. Everyone thinks Apple is against Jailbreaking but it's really more likely that they just want to plug security holes.

The fact that those holes help jailbreakers means that they're hurting jailbreakers, but that doesn't mean that's Apple's actual goal. It's just a side-effect.
 
Small White Car said:
Right. Everyone thinks Apple is against Jailbreaking but it's really more likely that they just want to plug security holes.

The fact that those holes help jailbreakers means that they're hurting jailbreakers, but that doesn't mean that's Apple's actual goal. It's just a side-effect.
Click to expand...

Obviously their main goal is jailbreaking...it is not like too many security goals not jailbreak related have been discovered.
 
Cask said:
Obviously their main goal is jailbreaking...it is not like too many security goals not jailbreak related have been discovered.
Click to expand...

:confused:

You think there are some magical security holes that ONLY let in Jailbreakers but won't let in someone else?

A security hole is a secuity hole. There aren't different "kinds."
 
Cask said:
Obviously their main goal is jailbreaking...it is not like too many security goals not jailbreak related have been discovered.
Click to expand...

That's because, for the most part, the iPhone OS is quite secure. The flaws that are being discovered are discovered for the express purpose of jailbreaking. Jailbreak is also a prettier label to slap on security flaw.
 
Small White Car said:
:confused:

You think there are some magical security holes that ONLY let in Jailbreakers but won't let in someone else?

A security hole is a secuity hole. There aren't different "kinds."
Click to expand...

Of course there is a security hole that can be used by anyone who knows how. But the truth is, they have only been exploited for jailbreaking and not really anything else. It would be clueless to think that Apple's main concerning regarding the platform's security right now isn't related to jailbreaking.
 
Cask said:
Of course there is a security hole that can be used by anyone who knows how. But the truth is, they have only been exploited for jailbreaking and not really anything else. It would be clueless to think that Apple's main concerning regarding the platform's security right now isn't related to jailbreaking.
Click to expand...

If Apple really wants to stop Jailbreaking, they can stop being so anal about controlling app development.

Trying to prevent malware is good, but Apple's mostly concerned with keeping their App store profit center and avoiding direct competition to their own markets.
 
Small White Car said:
Right. Everyone thinks Apple is against Jailbreaking but it's really more likely that they just want to plug security holes.
Click to expand...

If you think about it, the jailbreakers -- Dev Team, Geohot, etc -- do Apple a huge favor. They keep identifying exploits in the iPhone OS in a relatively benign way -- that is, without launching any kind of malware that makes use of them.

I do wonder if Apple wouldn't be pushing back so actively, though, if pirating apps via jailbreak were not so rampant....
 
iVoid said:
If Apple really wants to stop Jailbreaking, they can stop being so anal about controlling app development.
Click to expand...

Not true... Android, and WebOS to some extent, is pretty relaxed about its app development, yet people are still actively rooting and looking for ways to gain more control on both platforms... People just want to have supreme control over their devices.
 
Well I guess Microsoft has a similar corporate job, and look what good it's done them in preventing security holes :D

But seriously, the hackers will find holes. Apple will fix them, and the JB community will just not update. Then the hackers will find more holes in the new release, we update, more people join the JB, Apple fixes the holes in the next release. Etc. It gets harder each time for Geohot and the Dev Team, but the good news is that the real geniuses are not working for Apple. Thank goodness.
 
You guys remember the 5$ SMS message exploit that's being done by some danish teen?

The exploits used by the jailbreak devs can be used to exploit for monetary gains or something else, that's Apple's main goal. It doesn't matter if it seems like they are going against jailbreak devs, they aren't, they are trying to fix all the security holes into their devices. Two same destination, two different intentions.
 
benflick said:
On his Twitter, Geohot said he applied for this postion already, and in the resume section he put "blackra1n.com". :D
Click to expand...

I hope he really did. That's bleepin' awesome. :D These people on the dev team and geohot -- they really are quite skilled. OTOH there probably will be a not-too-great future for jailbreaking and unlocking phones, unless he acts as a double agent! :eek: :eek:
 
It looks like Apple refuses to learn and still had that huge stick up its rear.
The jail breaking community is showing apple a lot of features people want.
Things like customize themes. Apple could add it to the app store as well and make money off of it as well.
Customize SMS tone. I have yet to hear even a semi decent excuse for the lack of this one. I think I would have a lot of trouble giving up my transformer transforming sound.
The long list goes on and most of it does not include other apps stores or pirating.
 
I hope they do end jailbreaking. How funny would it be if tons of people started leaving the iPhone for other "freedom phones" because they can no longer make their iPhone "theirs" anymore.

I know a few people who say "If it wasn't for jailbreaking, I wouldn't have the iPhone".

Apple might be shooting themselves in the foot by disabling jailbreaking completely.

Edit: By the way... the original iPhone, original iPod touch and iPhone 3G are jailbroken by using a hardware exploit which cannot be patched by software. So if you have any of these devices, they are forever jailbreakable.
 
mkrishnan said:
If you think about it, the jailbreakers -- Dev Team, Geohot, etc -- do Apple a huge favor. They keep identifying exploits in the iPhone OS in a relatively benign way -- that is, without launching any kind of malware that makes use of them.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about that.. what useful vulnerabilities are they exposing?

To jailbreak a phone, you need to have physical access to the phone for some time; but if a malicious user has physical access to your phone then you're in trouble anyhow.

Now, if they could jailbreak a phone by getting an iPhone user to innocently view a malicious web-page; or via a 'trojan' App store app, then THAT would be a useful vulnerability for Apple to know about.

I don't think jailbreaking does Apple any favours; though having physical access to the device, you can circumvent their security measures and make the device LESS secure. (Someone I know well gave an iPhone as a gift to his girlfriend; except it was jailbroken with call monitoring software installed so he can listen in on her and read her txts! :rolleyes: )
 
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