A security researcher at Google discovered errors that allowed him to hack nearby iPhones using a WiFi network and a Raspberry Pi computer, whose price does not exceed $ 100.
One of the best hackers, Ian Bear, has found a way to hack any near iPhone and take full control of it in what many in the security industry consider to be one of the most impressive iPhone hacks ever.
Over the course of 6 months during the closures due to the Corona pandemic, Bear tried to do the hack, and he wrote in a blog post, “What I did was exploit a wireless convergence between my device and a nearby iPhone that would allow me complete control over it so that I could see all the pictures, and read all emails. I copy all private messages and watch everything happening there in real time. "
Bear - who works for the outstanding Google hacking team called Project Zero - was able to develop a technology to send a hacking message over Wi-Fi that requires no user interaction at all, and it doesn't even need the target to be online.
In other words, if your iPhone is in the domain of someone with this capability, they can take over it without requiring you to click on a fake link or anything like that.
Even worse, it is possible to convert the piracy message into a software worm, which enables it to spread on nearby iPhones automatically, and to a large extent we can compare it to the electronic Corona virus.
You don't need a fancy setup though.
This exploit just uses a Raspberry Pi and two off-the-shelf WiFi adapters for a total cost under $ 100.
- Ian Beer (@ i41nbeer) December 1, 2020
Just take a look at the short video above that Bear made himself to show how the software works.
In this regard, Dan Goodin - one of the most experienced cybersecurity correspondents - described the error as "one of the most vulnerable weaknesses in an iPhone ever."
Other than being dangerous, this vulnerability can have real-world applications.
According to a Ray Redacted cybersecurity expert, "this exploit could be used to unlock like 90% of phones currently in police custody across the United States," since these versions run on older versions of iPhones. OS 13 '(iOS 13) which is still running with the code that contains the bugs that Bear found.
Of course, developing something like this takes incredible time and experience, but Bear showed that with just a simple device, ready-made Wi-Fi adapters, and a few lines of code, he could hack anyone with an iPhone a few meters away.
Bear challenged Apple, once again, to introduce the bugs he had found to the Apple program to reward the company's bug hunters.
On Twitter, Bear said that these errors could be worth up to half a million dollars, and that Apple should donate the money to a charity.