pod2g

Apple sues mobile device virtualization company Corellium, cites ‘copyright infringement’

Apple’s legal team filed a lawsuit against mobile device virtualization company Corellium LLC this week for purported “copyright infringement,” citing that Corellium’s business model “is based entirely on commercializing the illegal replication of the copyrighted operating system and applications that run on Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices.”

Corellium’s services are a valuable asset to security researchers because they enable deployment of Apple’s mobile operating system in a virtualized environment. With such a tool, hackers can research iOS vulnerabilities, and in the case of unc0ver lead developer Pwn20wnd, it can even help with jailbreak tool development by ensuring stability across all device and firmware combinations.

The state of the iOS 7.1 jailbreak

If you are a frequent reader of iDB, or simply an avid jailbreaker, you probably already know that there is not currently a public jailbreak for iOS 7.1. But since we still get dozens of questions on this per day, we figured it was time to do a post on the topic to help clear the air.

For a little background, the evad3rs released evasi0n7 late last year to jailbreak devices running iOS 7. It had a pretty good run, lasting through 6 updates, but it was finally patched by Apple in March with iOS 7.1. So those who have updated to 7.1 have begun asking: now what?

JailbreakCon 2014: behind the scene

As I am trying to write a catchy intro for this post, I can’t help but feel the pressure. I’m feeling the pressure mainly because I wrote a similar piece a couple of years ago when I first attended JailbreakCon. To date, this post is still one of my favorites I have published on iDB. Having set the bar pretty high, this sequel could prove to be like most sequels: uninspired and thrown out there to cash in on a previous success. This is a risk I am willing to take today.

Maybe more importantly, I am feeling the pressure because I don’t want to disappoint readers by writing the same story I wrote a couple years ago. I guess I’m feeling like a musician that is incapable of finding a different sound for his next album, you know, kinda like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sometimes it’s good to keep the same sound. Sometimes it gets repetitive and boring. Hopefully, this time will still feel as refreshingly honest as it did the first time, while still entertaining readers, which really is my ultimate goal.

Yes, my goal is not so much to tell you about all the great workshops and talks I attended at JailbreakCon this year. My goal is to share the other side of the story. The side that no one not attending the event would be able to experience if it wasn’t for the words I’m typing on the keyboard right now. Let’s call it the behind the scene story of JailbreakCon.

So this is me, sharing my story of JailbreakCon 2014. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed living it…

Evasi0n 7 1.0.2 released, fixes iPad 2 Wi-Fi boot loop issue

Evasi0n 7 1.0.2 has just been released for OS X and Windows with a fix for the Wi-Fi reboot loop that's plagued iPad 2 Wi-Fi users. The release, which is the third release of the jailbreak tool, is available for download right now.

Many iPad 2 Wi-Fi users have complained about the endless reboot loop at the Apple logo that results after using Evasi0n 7 to jailbreak their device. The problem gained notoriety on Twitter and on the JailbreakQA website.

Pod2g denies claims that jailbreak was stolen from evad3rs

If you've noticed a shortage of jailbreak news on iDB lately, that's simply because there hasn't been any to give. While the evad3rs are hard at work hacking iOS 7, we've heard little about their progress since planetbeing's 'all the pieces' tweet in October.

This changed, though, last week, when reports began surfacing that someone close to the group had stolen a jailbreak from them and sold it to a private buyer. But evad3rs member pod2g has denied the claim, and says the iOS 7 JB is progressing slowly...

Apple reiterates it can’t read your iMessages even if it wanted to

Yesterday's report by Quarkslab, a penetration testing company, has caused quite a stir among privacy watchers as iOS hacker Pod2g and Quarkslab's team of researchers claimed at the Hack the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur they had successfully intercepted iMessage exchanges, indicating Apple has access to the public keys used to encrypt communication.

Given the ongoing NSA scare, Apple was quick to go on the record to dispute the claim, arguing end-to-end encryption employed to protect eavesdropping on iMessages communication is so secure that even the company itself cannot decrypt it...

Researchers claim Apple has the ability to access encrypted iMessages

Following the June report claiming that several tech companies were actively participating in the NSA's PRISM data mining program, Apple issued a statement regarding government information requests and user privacy.

In the statement, the company suggested it was unable to access or decrypt iMessage messages, alleviating fears that Apple could monitor those conversations. But according to a team of researchers, that may not be the case...

Pod2g says he’s becoming increasingly confident in iOS 7 jailbreak

Good news on the jailbreak front this evening, as pod2g has just tweeted out that he is becoming "more and more confident about an iOS 7 public jailbreak." He's careful to note, however, that this doesn't mean one is coming soon.

Still, this is a great vote of confidence from pod2g, as there has been little said about the state of the iOS 7 jailbreak since word got out last week that the evad3rs were looking into it. Well, planetbeing provided a minor update on Wednesday...

pod2g is considering switching to Android

Frustrated with what he's seen thus far with iOS 7 beta 1, iOS hacker pod2g has announced via Twitter that he's considering switching to an Android device. Pretty surprising news for someone who is arguably the most famous iOS hacker of all time. This is significant, because pod2g has been at the forefront of the last few jailbreaks on iOS, and without him, it's quite possible that we wouldn't have any of the more recent jailbreaks to hit the scene.

Of course, this doesn't mean that pod2g is totally giving up on iOS — as he acknowledges, it is just a beta after all. But with a switch to Android, the possibility exists that the iOS 6 jailbreak, dubbed evasi0n, was the renowned hacker's swan song when it comes to Apple devices.

Pod2g: Apple could open up iOS by releasing alternate firmware for developers

Earlier this week, Tim Cook turned some heads when he told folks at the D11 conference that they could expect Apple to "open up more" in the future, in regards to 3rd party developers. The company, as you well know, currently rules iOS with an iron fist.

Unsurprisingly, Cook's comment has sparked some speculation in the jailbreak community, on what Apple's plans might be for opening up iOS more. And earlier today, Pod2g weighed in, and he thinks it could do it by releasing alternate firmware...

Pod2g confirms evad3rs are not working on 6.1.3 jailbreak

It's been nearly two weeks now since Apple released iOS 6.1.3 that effectively killed the evasi0n jailbreak. It had a good run though, lasting  for nearly 6 weeks, through 2 iOS software updates, and jailbroke close to 20 million devices.

And it looks like that's it for jailbreaks for a while. We had an inkling there wouldn't be a 6.1.3 jailbreak released—it doesn't make sense to burn exploits before iOS 7— and the evad3rs' pod2g just confirmed our suspicion on Twitter...