A compromised phone is probably the worst thing that can happen to a smartphone owner. Which is why manufacturers go through great lengths to lock down their phones to prevent them from being subject to a hack attack.
Apple’s recent iPhones, based on iOS 9, is no exception--the company went on record stating that without the passcode the phones were impossible to unlock ‘in most cases’. However an unidentified hacking group/individual seems to have successfully, and remotely, gained access to the new phones and unlock them using no more than a web browser exploit.
This has was the result of a challenge thrown open by Zerodium, a company in the business of uncovering bugs in popular products and technology platforms. The company offered a $1 million dollar bounty for “an exclusive, browser-based, and untethered jailbreak for the latest Apple iOS 9 operating system and devices”, which was going to expire at the end of October.
The conditions for the hack was that the phone should be exploited using nothing more than a browser (Safari or Chrome) or via a regular text/MMS. Once done, the exploit should enable complete privileges to the phone, including the ability to install an app remotely. This made it particularly challenging; the last time an iPhone was hacked in this manner was with iOS 7.
According to a Tweet put out by Zerodium, the challenge appears to have been won.
It isn’t clear whether this was the work of an individual or a team of hackers, but the one-million-dollar bounty evidently looks claimed. The company Zerodium has itself had a notorious past--according to a Forbes report it has been known to sell the information pertaining to such hacks to the highest bidder, often comprising government agencies and the like.
The implications of the hugely popular iPhone being vulnerable to hacking is significant indeed. As yet, there has been no official response from Apple in this regard.
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