Hacking the iPhone
“DVD” Jon Lech Johansen has released Phone Activation Server which, with some technical knowledge, can be used to activate an iPhone without AT&T’s involvement. Johansen says the result is that “The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work.”
Johansen’s tool is for Windows only. Reports are circulating of other activation programs running on Mac OS X or Windows that require the use of a ‘token’ from an activated iPhone.
Where does that get you? Not very far, unless you just want the cachet of owning an iPhone and don’t want to talk on it. For example, a visitor to the US might buy an iPhone associated with a prepaid AT&T account, cancel the service within the grace period, then take the iPhone home for use as a fancy iPod and Wi-Fi Internet terminal.
But according to a PC World article, hackers are confident of finding within days a way to unlock the iPhone so it can be used with other carriers.
The story quoted someone involved in these efforts (identified only as “gj”) as saying “We are privately aware many of the iPhone engineers came from other handset manufacturers, and we understand their design techniques fairly well.”
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, the iPhone Dev Wiki might be worth a visit.
The Register reports activity on several fronts, including a buffer overflow vulnerability in Safari (shared with the Windows version) that could allow the execution of arbitrary code (eg, to automatically dial premium-rate numbers), a Bluetooth-based Denial of Service attack, and the discovery of the password giving root access.
A software update for the iPhone is expected this week, and it could undo some of the work already completed to loosen the restrictions on the device.
Source: ITWire
Before you even think about hacking the iPhone, you have to be able to activate the damn thing, hehe. I watched a thing on the news saying that hundred of customers weren’t eable to activate because of server overloads.
Yeah but its a matter of time .. since more and more cell phones are starting to be more and more like a computer and less like a cell phone.. so the hackers will have a field day using traditinal hacks on this Iphone.
ReelFiles, hav u even read the article? i guess not
hmmm, if it can be hacked to allow pay as you go then I may be interested in getting one
this Jon is a real genious
people are not interested in AT&T service that oes with iphone its a steal, anyone knows if this support sim cards? hoppefully someone will get some hack to allow other providers, and support 2G also would be great cause i have a 2G sim card to make voice calls only and then in wifi areas i use the net apps freely
PNG files in the now hacked iPhone’s filelist shows the following files:
Default_CARRIER_ATT.png
Default_CARRIER_CINGULAR.png
Default_CARRIER_TMOBILE.png
Default_CARRIER_VODAFONE.png
So do these give further credence to the rumours about the iPhone coming to Europe on T-Mobile and Vodafone?
They certainly would seem to indicate that Apple has had plans that link T-Mobile and Vodafone to the iPhone for some time.
Arguments against suggest that these image files could merely be readied for roaming purposes, for when iPhone users change providers to an overseas AT&T partner, or could even have been a left over from before the iPhone’s carrier was finalised.
Security researchers have begun to crack open the iPhone and its underlying software components in the hope of being able to ‘unlock’ protections on the device and run custom software.
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Less than three days after Apple’s mobile device went on sale, researchers had taken the first steps towards unlocking the device.
Eric Tews, a cryptography student at the Technical University of Darmstadt, reported on the Full Disclosure mailing list that an analysis of the iPhone’s disk image had unearthed two internal passwords labelled ‘root’ and ‘mobile’.
Researchers are not entirely sure what function the two passwords perform, nor are they certain that the passwords are the same for every iPhone.
“In general the passwords appear to be part of the underlying OS X/Unix-based system that makes the phone work,” independent security researcher Kevin Finisterre told vnunet.com.
Finisterre suggested that internal programs may use the passwords to gain access to the iPhone components.
Developers could use these ‘credentials’ to communicate with the iPhone’s cellular radio, for instance, and receive feedback from the touch screen.
Security researcher Tom Ferris explained that the work being done on the Full Disclosure list is ” definitely the first step”.
Ferris pointed out that there is still plenty of hacking to be done before anybody other than Apple will be able to install programs on the iPhone. “They do not have the keys to the kingdom yet,” he told vnunet.com.
Ferris noted that, while researchers have been able to open the iPhone software and find such things as caller-ID information, they have yet to gain the ability to write and execute code on the device, leaving the passwords of little use at the moment.
“But once they are able to break out of that sandbox it is game over,” said Ferris.
I should have specified, that I meant activate it via phone, most people aren’t smart enough to hook up a phone to a pc, hell I get service calls for setting up printers.
Wait a minute. You have to activate it to use the ipod part of the phone? That’s stupid. Apple “iwhatever” devices are overhyped….there good but overpriced compared to competitors
@blobster
No, look.
“The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work.”
ONLY the iPod and WiFi work.
Haha, many ppl love and hate “DVD Jon”
Nick you idiot. I’m talking about BEFORE you ever hacked it, just the actual product you purchased. Apparently the hack “activates” the ipod and WiFi portion of the iphone, meaning that those portions are unactivated at first purchase.
[quote]Apparently the hack “activates” the ipod and WiFi portion of the iphone, meaning that those portions are unactivated at first purchase.[/quote]
Yep, you need to activate the phone with ATT… out of the box it’s just a useless piece of junk..
would it be possible to use this hack and then later activate it and use it as a normal phone, when those kind of services come to europe ?