'GrayKey' iPhone Unlocking Box Used by Law Enforcement Shown Off in Photos

[tooloud10]

Wow, for $30k the buyer gets two cutoff Lightning cables hanging out of grommets in a gray box? Why wouldn't they put USB ports on the box instead?

Oh, and this thing is complete BS.

 

[Tiger8]

Scumbags.

Why? They shattered the myth of the 'unbreakable' iOS security?

 

[skinned66]

Clearly this device is not a trial and error device using brute force on passcode entries. The exact mechanism is yet to be understood and I don't think the company nor any buyer would care to disclose that information.

The fact that the cracking time is entirely variable from seconds to days doesn't imply they're cherry picking the info. Since the passcodes arent actually stored on the device and used as part of the encryption process along with ephemeral and effaceable keys and storage, I'd be willing to bet that's exactly what it is. But yes, we will probably never get to know for sure.

 

[SoGood]

If I order 50 for my Kremlin associates, and another 120 for my Chinese Ministry of State Security (secret police) comrades I'll be immensely rich! Of course they want several, at all costs.

Given the limited penetration of iPhones in those countries, I suspect you’ll have a better outcome to work on the thousands to be ordered by US agencies. LOL

 

[Solomani]

Given the limited penetration of iPhones in those countries, I suspect you’ll have a better outcome to work on the thousands to be ordered by US agencies. LOL

Wrong assumption. Those governments already have iron-fisted surveillance control of their oppressed citizens. Countries like China, Russia, NK, and the Taliban will want these devices to spy on and crack the devices of American political leaders, billionaires, Congressmen, business leaders, spies, etc. WikiLeaks and Assange will also want a couple, because it helps them scoop more dirt for their Russian paymasters.

 

[Pbrutto]

Um, I have a question:

From the article:


Two iPhones can be connected to the GrayKey at once, and need to be connected for about two minutes to install proprietary software that's designed to guess the passcode for an iPhone. Once the software is installed, it will work to crack the passcode, a process that can take as little as a few hours for a short passcode or several days for a longer six-digit passcode.


How does the software get installed to a locked iPhone?

Glad I am not the only person who noticed this

 

[SoGood]

Wrong assumption...

LOL! I think you underestimated US intelligence agencies’ interest in data. They don’t consume the level of budget they receive for nothing.

 

[simonmet]

It’s obvious Apple has agreements with governments for backdoor access and governments in return have been prepared to overlook their tax arrangements — neither of which are in the best interest of consumers. Equally obvious that there always has and always will be backdoors to unlock an iPhone.

Apple could make the iPhone near impenetrable if they wanted to. It shouldn’t be that hard. But they don’t want that. They want a sufficient level of security (or apparent security) to keep most people happy while allowing those who want or need access (including themselves) a way in.

Passcode entry should only ever be via the touch screen and it should never be possible to run software on a locked phone. A locked phone should be capable of receiving power only. These are pretty simple things they could implement fairly securely but have obviously chosen not to.

When companies tell you they care about privacy and security don’t believe them. If they did they’d at least ship devices with the maximum possibly security and privacy settings enabled by default, but they don’t.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Wow, for $30k the buyer gets two cutoff Lightning cables hanging out of grommets in a gray box? Why wouldn't they put USB ports on the box instead?

Oh, and this thing is complete BS.

And probably just a picture of that screen LOL.

 

[Michael Scrip]

It sounds like the iPhone could be rather difficult to crack depending on the length and type of passcode (but not impossible)

So how do the average Android phones fair against a box like this?

Is it open season?

 

[shadowbird423]

Some sorta Jailbreaking process huh?

When eta for 11.2.6 jb?

wen eta son
[doublepost=1521178098][/doublepost]

Thanks for pointing this out. I had no idea there were other options! Easy to miss. Just changed my p/w to an alphanumeric. No f***ing box is gonna crack this puppy now.

I am not informed enough to give an overview on the password cracking process, but that wouldn't be good enough. They show it breaking a 6 digit code. They must have overridden the normal password attempt timings (which, if I remember correctly, make you wait progressively longer to guess, even when guessing over a lightning cable).

If I had to bet, this has something to do with the fact that people are now rooting around privileged parts of the Secure Enclave.

The only way around this is a strong alphanumeric password.
[doublepost=1521178256][/doublepost]

Glad I am not the only person who noticed this

The article mentions that they may be jailbreaking the device. iBoot and the bootrom run before the OS starts. Exploits in those are worth a lot of dough... None have gone public in the last 3+ years (for modern devices at least).

 

[jimi78]

Steve would’ve approved of the design.

Does it just come in space grey?

Or gold / silver too?

I was totally thinking how ironic it is they designed it to look like some apple product. Former Apple engineers maybe? disgruntled? sticking it to man in a way lol

 

[stylinexpat]

Looks like Apple’s ex-security engineer turned to be a traitor

https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/06/...phone-x-unlocking-options-to-law-enforcement/

 

[palmerc]

Doesn't the iPhone get locked after so many failed attempts?

Yes. They’re bypassing the device being disabled and the delay.

The real story here is _how_ they bypassed the Secure Enclave...

 

[pika2000]

$30k is chump change in the underground world, and that is assuming official channels. I'm sure the company itself have people interested in selling the thing in the black market for a bit more.

Of course, a lay person would probably not have to worry about this. A typical thief won't be bothered with this, and current iOS security is quite sufficient.

Going to the political side, now what the NSA/FBI wanted (ie. backdoor), is now for sale and can be obtained by nefarious people. And this is with Apple refusing to give them the lock and key. Imagine if they did. It is clear the NSA/FBI have such short oversight on what they wanted.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Ah, yes, the "something to hide" fallacy.

Apple, please do what you can to protect us from this.

Apple aren't doing anything to protect you. They are saying they have "plausible deniability" in the US because they encrypt the key to iOS so they have no way to decrypt it. However, we've seen the stories, in china iOS encryption is placed on a Chinese server and the Chinese government can decrypt that as and when they see fit, regardless of Apple. And the US? If a law enforcement agency gets a subpoena and it's proved a hack can get the data. Apple has to give it up.

 

[shadowbird423]

Apple aren't doing anything to protect you. They are saying they have "plausible deniability" in the US because they encrypt the key to iOS so they have no way to decrypt it. However, we've seen the stories, in china iOS encryption is placed on a Chinese server and the Chinese government can decrypt that as and when they see fit, regardless of Apple. And the US? If a law enforcement agency gets a subpoena and it's proved a hack can get the data. Apple has to give it up.

This only applies to iCloud backups of your device. If you do local (encrypted) backups what you said is no longer something to worry about. And Apple doesn't have the actual decryption keys to get into iPhones. They've been pretty clear about that distinction.

The horse has already left the barn in regards to securing the cloud against government actors.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

This only applies to iCloud backups of your device. If you do local (encrypted) backups what you said is no longer something to worry about. And Apple doesn't have the actual decryption keys to get into iPhones. They've been pretty clear about that distinction.

The horse has already left the barn in regards to securing the cloud against government actors.

Well that's true in the same way as "if I destroy my phone no one can hack it, but the minute I use Apple services (Apple wants that right?) I'm screwed"

 

[shadowbird423]

Well that's true in the same way as "if I destroy my phone no one can hack it, but the minute I use Apple services (Apple wants that right?) I'm screwed"

iCloud is the only "essential" service that the non local key storage thing applies to. iMessage and FaceTime is end to end. True security is always hard to pull off, but iPhones still make it relatively easy to get close.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

iCloud is the only "essential" service that the non local key storage thing applies to. iMessage and FaceTime is end to end. True security is always hard to pull off, but iPhones still make it relatively easy to get close.

Agreed, "to get close" but don't give them a free pass.

 

[supercoolmanchu]

libel statutes would like a word with you.

Again... it's not the speech, it's a different and distinct criminal action and intent. In libel, the context is also very, very narrow and specific. This is like arguing you don't have universal free speech, because lying under oath isn't protected by poetic expression.

When you over-simplified to play silly pedantic gotcha games, you miss out on some pretty important practical, legal and philosophical context.

 

[alexgowers]

I’m more concerned that the box is nothing more than a pc. If that is the case then the software getting out could be a thing. I love that people don’t bother to steal iPhones anymore and would hate to return to the old days. I personally not concerned about it’s use but more by the implications of what this box opens up. I was under the impression Apple had blocked multiple attempts at guessing passwords for good but here we go again.

 

[Machead2012]

Did we not learn anything from Edward Snowden?
With or without this technology we are never fully secure in our privacy.
OS Upgrades, bellyaching, whining and moaning isn't going to change a thing.

 

[lionsy]

It’s brute forcing the passcode. The moral of the story is use an alphanumeric passcode and that 2 days left to crack message will suddenly become 2 years.

 

[HacKage]

I use 7. Just for the reason that the box to type it doesn’t give away the length of the passcode.

I know someone whose password was literally the letter A. But because the password box showed up, who is going to attempt to randomly enter something in there?