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Twisted T

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
45
0
Hi,

Can anyone tell me if Jailbreaking an iPhone will leave it vulnerable to external attacks?

I've not read into much, but from what information I have come across, it seems that it could be possible for another iPhone user or computer user to steal personal information from your iPhone via WiFi.

In addition, is the Jailbreaking software safe in itself? Could this software possibly 'phone home' personal data from your iPhone?:confused:

If anybody has any tips on the best security practises for Jailbroken iPhones, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share them.

Thanks in advance,

TT
 

Jayhawk85

macrumors member
Oct 15, 2007
52
0
Jackson, Mississippi
It's safe as long as...

You backup your personal info first. As long as you don't unlock your phone for use with another carrier, and are careful and follow instructions, you'll be fine. And if you do have any problems and have to take the phone back to the Apple store, just restore the phone in iTunes first so everything looks legit. They won't look in the filesystem for mods. I've been using a jailbroken phone since the initial jailbreak and am now on 1.1.2 jailbroken. Good luck!
 

Twisted T

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
45
0
Thanks for the advice Jayhawk.

I was just slightly worried about intruders being able to hack into my email, calendar or address book.

I haven't bought my iPhone yet, I'm going to wait and see what Steve says about future firmware revisions at Macworld. He may even tempt me to enter into a new phone contract, thus bypassing Jailbreaking altogether.

Cheers,

Twisted T
 

Stadsport

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2006
162
0
Thanks for the advice Jayhawk.

I was just slightly worried about intruders being able to hack into my email, calendar or address book.

I haven't bought my iPhone yet, I'm going to wait and see what Steve says about future firmware revisions at Macworld. He may even tempt me to enter into a new phone contract, thus bypassing Jailbreaking altogether.

Cheers,

Twisted T
I think you're misunderstanding what "Jailbreaking" is.
Jailbreaking is when you open up the iPhone's filesystem, making it possible to write to it, so you can install third party software. In the context above, you're thinking of unlocking, which would let you use it on another GSM provider.
 

peeaanuut

macrumors 65816
Sep 10, 2007
1,048
1
Southern California
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

just be aware that jailbreaking the phone puts a hole in the security of the phone. However so far it seems mostly harmless.
 

Twisted T

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
45
0
I think you're misunderstanding what "Jailbreaking" is.
Jailbreaking is when you open up the iPhone's filesystem, making it possible to write to it, so you can install third party software. In the context above, you're thinking of unlocking, which would let you use it on another GSM provider.

I was considering using a UK 02 iPhone with an 02 pay & go or pay monthly sim card. Therefore I wouldn't need to unlock the phone. However, I would need to 'fake activate' it and I believe the simplest way to 'fake activate' this iPhone involves using Conceited Software's Jailbreak method.

I'm not really interested in installing unauthorised apps at the moment, I just want to have an iPhone without the ridiculous 18 month contract. Then again, Steve may still persuade me to sign up on the 15th. Who knows!

Thanks,

Twisted
 

igglepuff

macrumors regular
Sep 27, 2007
163
0
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/3B48b Safari/419.3)

just be aware that jailbreaking the phone puts a hole in the security of the phone. However so far it seems mostly harmless.

the ironic part is there's already a hole w/ the phones security, hence, being able to jailbreak it :)
 

ajl917

macrumors 6502
Oct 8, 2007
468
0
Yeah jailbreaking is perfectly safe as long as you backup your stuff, just sync with iTunes, know what you are installing, and know how to fix any problems if they happen...
 

SFC Archer

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2007
1,742
0
Troy, MT
Guys...The OP is talking about "UNLOCKING" the Sim...NOT jailbreaking to install third party apps. I would recommend guidance pertaining to that request. I won't do either so can not advise.

Good Luck
 

ben5959

macrumors regular
Aug 15, 2007
132
0
Sure go ahead, jail break-it, unlock it, hack the hell out of it. Its completely safe, aside from the 11-year trojan making pre-teens out there.

seriously though, with the new news about the Trojan, id think twice, people have said it all along that the phone was vulnerable, now all thats been confirmed. Either proceede with EXTREME CAUTION. IM going to restore my jailbroken phone back to factory.
 

banditpr

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2009
1
0
One question about jailbraking....

Once you jailbreak the iphone, are you allowed to continue using iTunes to install other applications, or even update iPhone software when available without problems, or do you need to forget about iTunes and other Apple legal stuff?

Thanks.
 

angemon89

macrumors 68000
Feb 5, 2008
1,846
110
Northern CA
Once you jailbreak the iphone, are you allowed to continue using iTunes to install other applications, or even update iPhone software when available without problems, or do you need to forget about iTunes and other Apple legal stuff?

Thanks.

You can still sync Apps and music on your iPhone/iPod even after you jailbreak. You get the best of both worlds.

The only real reason I have jailbroken my iPhone in the past was for PDAnet and I kept all my other legal stuff in tact.
 

ppc750fx

macrumors 65816
Aug 20, 2008
1,308
4
Altering the function of a device does not inherently make it more vulnerable.

Yes, if you install and run OpenSSH all the time (even when you're connected to publicly-accessible networks) and don't change your account passwords -- yes, in that case you are vulnerable.

Just jailbreaking, however, doesn't make your device any easier to compromise.
 

notintheleast

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2008
424
0
NC
This quote proves you can become a macrumors demi-god without knowing anything about the iPhone and jailbreaking. Apparently, the number of devices listed in someones ego-signature is inversly proportional to knowledge.

Ha. Agreed. I'd love to know some of these added security risks, as if the phone is risk free when its not JB anyway....

Nice sig BTW MikePA.
 

notintheleast

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2008
424
0
NC
I just wonder what kind of sensitive data people would store on a cellphone. What is there to worry about someone getting into anyway (if thats even the case)?
 

ppc750fx

macrumors 65816
Aug 20, 2008
1,308
4
All iPhones use the same username/password combos for both the superuser and normal user accounts. The passwords for these accounts ('root' and 'mobile', respectively) are well known.

On most systems this would be considered a security risk. However, since there is no way to actually log in to a stock iPhone remotely, this isn't a problem.

Enter jailbreaking. Jailbreaking will not, on its own, allow remote logins. It will, however, enable you to install an SSH server (such as OpenSSH). When the ssh daemon is running, your iPhone can accept remote logins. If you don't change the default passwords for the two accounts, anyone who knows those passwords (i.e. anyone with access to, say, Google) and can connect to the SSH daemon can log in to your iPhone. This is most decidedly a security risk. If you change the passwords, you're fine.

Jailbreaking in and of itself does not introduce any additional security holes. None. It will allow you to install software that, if misconfigured or malicious in nature, can lead to your device being compromised -- but that is true of *any* device that allows you to install third party software without heavy sandboxing.
 

OrangeDog

macrumors 6502
Oct 20, 2008
336
0
I think a lot of people don't know what they're getting themselves into when they JB their iPhone.
 

notintheleast

macrumors 6502
Oct 1, 2008
424
0
NC
What happened here? Oh well, I still want to know what kind of sensitive data people are storing on a cellphone that they are worried about. Keeping important information on something as easy to lose as a cellphone seems like the biggest security issue here.
 

MikePA

macrumors 68020
Aug 17, 2008
2,039
0
Oh well, I still want to know what kind of sensitive data people are storing on a cellphone that they are worried about. Keeping important information on something as easy to lose as a cellphone seems like the biggest security issue here.

There are some security steps you can take on an iPhone while there are more you can take on a phone, like a BlackBerry, that was designed and has options for the enterprise. These steps mitigate the risk of losing a phone.

The BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Sever) allows lots of centrally managed options that the user can not override. On a BB, the login password can be require as can the complexity of the password. It can be set up to encrypt the device and automatically wipe the device if the wrong password is entered more than 10 times. BES can also limit what attachments can be sent to the phone.

The iPhone is not an enterprise device.
 
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