Exploit Claims To Be Able To Hack iPhones Remotely

If there is one gripe that government agencies like the FBI have against devices from Apple is that gaining access to the contents of a locked iPhone is almost impossible, unless you get the passcode from the device’s owner. This is something that Apple has recently reiterated in court in front of a judge.

However according to recent reports, it seems that a new exploit has been discovered that could potentially allow iPhones to be hacked remotely. This exploit was announced by a group called Zerodium who basically awarded the group who discovered the exploit $1 million in bounty money for discovering the exploit that can jailbreak an iPhone remotely via a browser. The exploit was not detailed which is actually the scary part, because what Zerodium does is that they keep such vulnerabilities a secret from companies like Apple.

Instead they will then sell those exploits to their customers like the government. In a report on Motherboard by Lorenzo Francheschi-Biccierai, “But there’s no doubt that for some, this exploit is extremely valuable. …This exploit would allow [law enforcement and spy agencies] to get around any security measures and get into the target’s iPhone to intercept calls, messages, and access data stored in the phone.”

Like we said, we have no idea how this alleged exploit works since Zerodium would not disclose it to the public, but here’s hoping that whatever it is, for the sake of security and privacy, that Apple will be able to find it themselves and close it.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Hacking, iPhone, Jailbreak, Security