iOS 12 Includes Setting to Disable USB Access When an iPhone Hasn't Been Unlocked for More Than an Hour

[centauratlas]

Apple is doing the right thing here. People have a choice with iOS 12. If they “have nothing to hide” they don’t have to use it. If they “have nothing to hide” but still don’t want people (crooks, ‘foreign’ governments etc) potentially snooping, they can use it.

I put ‘foreign’ in quotes because every government is foreign to someone and I don’t want any of them looking at my phone - whether these foreign ones are the UK, Cuba, Venezuela, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, Canada, Australia, the US, or NZ. or any of the rest.

Nor do I want Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google or any other company having access.

Not that I have anything to hide, but a right to privacy along with liberty is the hallmark of a civilized society. An uncivilized savage's entire existence is public, ruled by the mob and the whim of his or her tribe. Privacy protects freedom, and freedom protects people from mob rule.

 

[antiprotest]

Stay out of my phone!

 

[0388631]

Why an hour? Why not a custom setting?

In before that guy who's been professionally cracking iOS for a decade tells us he already knows how to bypass this setting.

Chuckled at this. Nothing beats the guy claiming he's a pro video editor in film, VFX and music last week.

 

[tennisproha]

I love Apple for their stance on privacy and probably the only major reason I haven't attempted to switch to another ecosystem.

The way this article is written, it's very confusing what is on and what is off. I think you should just update it to say when the toggle is on, USB access will always be allowed. When the toggle is off, USB access will be restricted after 1 hour.

 

[Tech198]

This is just awesome! I’m glad it’s an hour and not a week.

Yep... but I bet known the law enforcement they'd be hard at work getting round this one.

In fact, that is is the ONLY reason i would agree with Apple stand on privacy... Its an exception i would say Apple did the right thing here.. And that's not easy coming from someone who doesn't trust anyone with privacy and security, not even Apple themselves.

 

[ISanych]

what are you hiding?
i just had a 4 digit pin lol

It's good that you have nothing to hide, it order to be more open could you please post your SSN and online banking credentials?

 

[dilbert99]

Bye bye super expensive GreyKey!

Hello eBay

 

[AnthonyHarris]

In before that guy who's been professionally cracking iOS for a decade tells us he already knows how to bypass this setting.

I'm sure there will be claims that he has managed to bypass it posted soon. Don't worry.

 

[fenderbass146]

In before that guy who's been professionally cracking iOS for a decade tells us he already knows how to bypass this setting.

Hahahahaha

Literally the reason I went into this thread was to call out that guy.

 

[Princejb134]

It's good that you have nothing to hide, it order to be more open could you please post your SSN and online banking credentials?

sure ss is 842-94-2938
account number 4302847048 bank of america

 

[thisisnotmyname]

sure ss is 842-94-2938
account number 4302847048 bank of america

would you mind adding your name, address, date of birth, and mother's maiden name?

 

[csurfr]

would you mind adding your name, address, date of birth, and mother's maiden name?

don't forget the street you grew up on and the name of your first pet (just to be sure we have it all).

I have a feeling this toggle will change in an upcoming beta. As it is now "off" is technically "on" so it's a bit counter-intuitive. Unless I'm a dolt that is. It just seems that it should read "turn this on to enable...." as opposed to the way it currently operates where the switch being toggled is actually "off".

 

[kemal]

How does this work in DFU mode? I thought DFU was run by the boot code baked into the SoC(?)

 

[jsmith189]

This is my brand of petty, and I appreciate them for it.

 

[alex2792]

It’s a nice gesture, but the fact that if a nation state like US, China or Russia will always find a way if they want to access your phone bad enough.

 

[Xenc]

Note that a successful Face ID or Touch ID counts as an unlock, so for most cases this will be seamless.

 

[agsystems]

Should also be triggered when a phone is put into SOS mode and whenever TouchID/FaceID is disabled. If it’s not doing that, that would seem to be an oversight.

If you are already running the beta - I think you can report this in the feedback app

 

[Tech198]

Note that a successful Face ID or Touch ID counts as an unlock, so for most cases this will be seamless.

True, but FaceID, according to Apple cannot be fooled, so it doesn't count unless u can unlock it and get access to settings to turn this off.

Would be good to allow FaceID and Touch ID unlock "on those enabled phones) in addition to passcode as well

I guess that was too much for Apple.. Just a pass-code only which would Apple would then force more uses to set a 6-digit pin.

 

[justperry]

Located under Touch ID & Passcode, the new setting, which requires a passcode to be entered to allow a USB accessory to connect after an hour, is enabled by default.

You can toggle off the setting to allow USB accessories to connect at any time, but most users are likely going to leave this set to the default setting as there's not a whole lot of benefit to turning it off. With this turned on, you'll need to enter your passcode for a data connection to the iPhone using a USB device, such as when you connect it to iTunes on a computer, but charging via the Lightning port will continue to work fine.​

​

This (explanation)confuses me like hell, also the text under this setting should be much clearer what it does.

So, if I want to restrict acces to my iPhone should it be enabled, as in toggled so that the colour is green?

Apple could change the text to something like:

Enable(d) (green) you need to input your password after 1 hour if you want to regain USB data use.

 

[0007776]

what are you hiding?
i just had a 4 digit pin lol

Personally I'm not worried about the police getting into my phone, I have nothing to hide there. But if the police can get in then so can hackers so I'm ok with this. My only concern is if this will limit the options for troubleshooting your phone if something goes wrong with it as that is a more likely issue than hackers getting physical access to your phone.

 

[Tech198]

This (explanation)confuses me like hell, also the text under this setting should be much clearer what it does.

So, if I want to restrict acces to my iPhone should it be enabled, as in toggled so that the colour is green?

Apple could change the text to something like:

Enable(d) (green) you need to input your password after 1 hour if you want to regain USB data use.

This would be good just for the,assuming your iphone is already unlocked, and in user may not keep their iphones unlocked always for security reasons...

You mean you'd want to input you passcode *twice* ? Isn't that just as bad as Apple constantly asking you for your Apple ID password?

 

[Mirice99]

NAMBLA; Hey Tim could you make it safer for us to hide child porn form the police?

Tim Cook: How about we disable usb access when the phone hasn't been unlocked for an hour? That should help child predators like you hide from the police.

NAMBLA: Awesome thanks so much!

 

[evoluzione]

how is this different from the USB control on Android? My last three Google (pure Android) devices ONLY charge when connected to a PC for example. I have to change the settings that pop up to enable data transfer. Essentially the same thing, no?

Yay Apple for implementing this, and forcing it to be an hour...but why not give us a choice? oh yeah, because Apple knows best.

 

[carpleror]

Good - **** the police

I never understood ppl who say “**** the police”. Do you not know anyone who’s a cop? Like, not a single person? Where do they get the police in your community?

 

[Mousse]

Banking info, emails, contacts of friends and family, photos, personal info, and more. No one needs to see this info unless I let them. Period.

Basically, the stuff people put on Facebook. We know seriously Facebook takes security. Like a house with hi-tech security front door and a wide open backdoor.

The best security is the stuff between the ears. Apple needs to put add a firewall feature to iOS. That is protection for the always on wireless connection. THAT is the real protection from hackers, since they won't have physical access to your phone, but could gain access OTA.