iOS 7 Security Flaw Leaves Stored Email Attachments Unencrypted [Updated]

[2984839]

You're also ignoring the fact that unless you're working in a enterprise environment where they have the software tools to encrypt emails the majority of people send attachments that are not encrypted. Thanks for that "comical" post.

That's another security flaw that should be addressed. It's not overly hard to implement GPG by default for email clients in a way that's nearly transparent for the user. The main issue is passwords; people hate typing them and pick awful ones incessantly, so that's the main obstacle to GPG ever being used. I would just have the email client generate a key pair upon installation/setup, don't encrypt the private key, and use it by default.

When you consider that the bulk of sensitive info in a message with an attachment is probably in the attachment (PDFs, documents, etc.), it makes no sense to send it in plaintext.

 

[Alex Cutter]

Very happy to be proven wrong by someone with creditable knowledge of the subject?

Good luck finding that here.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

But even that was a tough sell - one had to be within your vicinity and had to be connected to the same network as you were.

Point being, public wireless networks are often not the best place to do online banking and such. That's the case for everyone - not just Apple.

Moral of the story - if someone has the know how and determination, no matter of security patches and software will keep them out. For 99.9999% of iPhone users, its a secure device.

Maybe this would affect Apple's contract with government workers....I don't know.

Still - to have to be able to have access to the file system on the iPhone (either physically possessing it or remotely) seems like a relatively difficult task in and of itself.

Yes, that is fair enough, and for those securing their devices via pin code or fingerprint, the entire filesystem is encrypted in any case.

Plus, as some other have mentioned, most people are sending email over insecure channels in any case, which could be deciphered if intercepted during transmission.

Anyway, I do agree with those saying that this isn't that big a deal, but it seems like these kind of things are coming on with higher frequency lately, and the underlying issue is more worrying, really. That it was secured before, and now that code had been removed, accidentally or otherwise in a subsequent update. How or why that would happen is probably a bigger deal than the actual security weakness.

 

[Xenomorph]

Make note of how these files were accessed (going by what the blog author wrote):

* a cracked/compromised iPhone 4 on 7.1/7.1.1 (done through hardware exploits with limera1n).

* a cracked/compromised iPhone 5S and iPad 2 on iOS 7.0.4 (done through kernel exploits with a jailbreak).

There is no public method of getting to these files on a device newer than iPhone 4S running iOS 7.1 or later.

In short, if you care about security, don't crack your OS (jailbreak) or use a device with known hardware flaws (A4/2010 chip and older).

 

[mohdamerul]

Apple removed this code to allow jailbreak

 

[2010mini]

So this flaw requires direct access to the device? Yeah, I not too worried about that. Let me know when such a flaw can be done with out access to the device.
THEN i will worry.

 

[NMBob]

Still - to have to be able to have access to the file system on the iPhone (either physically possessing it or remotely) seems like a relatively difficult task in and of itself.

Go download a copy of iExplore. Poof -- your entire phone in basically a Finder window. It's not hard at all. I had to buy a copy to get all of the music off of an old iPod.

 

[samcraig]

Oh noes... if someone steals my iPhone and then is using some not so easy technique to access the file system of my iPhone then navigating to my email folder can then read my email attachments......

Probably this security flaw affects 0.0001% of iOS users but everyone will think "OMG another security flaw!!!11"

Every time someone says “This consumer electronic device isn’t secure for (x) reason!” and then follows it up with a description that pretty much requires direct hardware access, I have to wonder. How easy do you think it is to steal stuff in my pockets?

Good click bait.

I think the point is that there's a security issue and it should be fixed. Regardless of whether or not one person or many would be affected - if there's a flaw, and it CAN be fixed, it should be. This doesn't mean it should be screamed about as if the sky is falling - but I can't see the reason why anyone would speak negatively about the desire to get this fixed.

 

[nia820]

Is anything truly secure nowadays?

 

[scaredpoet]

I wonder if this vulnerability is present in OSX...

Short answer: OS X handles file security differently from iOS. If you have FileVault turned on, you're fine.


The longer answer: Unlike iOS (and apparently unlike what most people thought, myself included), encryption on OS X Lion and later is done via FileVault 2, and is full disk volume encryption. If you turn that on and set a reasonably strong password, then everything on the encrypted hard drive is, well, encrypted. Without the passwords or access to the unlock code, you can't get in... assuming there are no bugs or NSA backdoors we haven't found out about yet.

Of course, you have to have FileVault turned on for any of this to work. By default, desktops and laptops (of all major OSes, not just Mac) ship unencrypted, so all your data is in the clear by default. If you don't have FileVault on, then technically everything on your computer is unencrypted. So if that bothers you, you should turn it on.

Also, bear in mind that unless you encrypt external hard drives, USB drives, and anything else you store files on, then those aren't benefiting from any encryption. And anything you send out or receive via e-mail has been released into the clear too, unless yourself and everyone you e-mail are using GPG or something similar.

But then, that's the tradeoff... if you want to share a piece of information with anyone, easily, then encryption is off the table the moment it leaves your computer or mobile device.

 

[pogoyoyo]

Apple needs it's software engineers to sit down, think of every single possible security feature/flaw, make sure it's in place and working, and then move on with whatever else they were working on.
It seems like over the years they keep building on top of an OS and think they won't break ***** in the process.

 

[puckhead193]

Bugs happen

I don't mind bugs. Bugs like this are minor. But apple has not been to quick fixing major bugs on software. (i.e. FCPX) I didn't know my nMP should be slower then running FCP7 on my 17" MBP.

 

[GeneralChang]

Not very hard when there's a gun or knife pointed at your face. Although, most criminals would just try to sell it, so they probably won't be trying to view your emails.

However, in many countries, your phone can simply be confiscated and searched by the police with no real reason. This is a genuine problem as far as privacy is concerned, and becomes more serious when you're dealing with oppressive governments.

Apple needs to fix this.

I’ll be honest. If you are sending unencrypted files over email, the file stored on your phone is not the weak point in that process. The government will read those attachments in transit if they want to, not off of your phone. So maybe don’t send sensative information in unencrypted files via email? Seems like the logical first step if you’re concerned about security.

 

[2984839]

I’ll be honest. If you are sending unencrypted files over email, the file stored on your phone is not the weak point in that process. The government will read those attachments in transit if they want to, not off of your phone. So maybe don’t send sensative information in unencrypted files via email? Seems like the logical first step if you’re concerned about security.

Of course. This is why PGP should be the default, and it's mind boggling that it still isn't. But this particular problem is still a concern either way.

 

[GeneralChang]

I think the point is that there's a security issue and it should be fixed. Regardless of whether or not one person or many would be affected - if there's a flaw, and it CAN be fixed, it should be. This doesn't mean it should be screamed about as if the sky is falling - but I can't see the reason why anyone would speak negatively about the desire to get this fixed.

There are other bug fixes I would much rather see first.

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Of course. This is why PGP should be the default, and it's mind boggling that it still isn't. But this particular problem is still a concern either way.

Yeah, I’d put this at a low priority in comparison to other security concerns.

 

[2984839]

Apple needs it's software engineers to sit down, think of every single possible security feature/flaw, make sure it's in place and working, and then move on with whatever else they were working on.
It seems like over the years they keep building on top of an OS and think they won't break ***** in the process.

They're way past the point where this would be feasible. You can't have an OS with the functionality that Apple users demand without it being insecure. There's too much complexity and too much code to make a useful audit possible. Apple does a decent job, but they're always going to play catch-up. All the operating systems designed from the ground up for security are extremely minimal.

 

[jrswizzle]

Go download a copy of iExplore. Poof -- your entire phone in basically a Finder window. It's not hard at all. I had to buy a copy to get all of the music off of an old iPod.

Is that a jailbreak app, OS X app?

Someone would still have to have physical access to my device....

 

[samcraig]

There are other bug fixes I would much rather see first.

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Yeah, I’d put this at a low priority in comparison to other security concerns.

No argument. I was responding to those that think this is a complete non-issue or not worth reporting on/fixing.

 

[jrswizzle]

They're way past the point where this would be feasible. You can't have an OS with the functionality that Apple users demand without it being insecure. There's too much complexity and too much code to make a useful audit possible. Apple does a decent job, but they're always going to play catch-up. All the operating systems designed from the ground up for security are extremely minimal.

Yup - the key is quick patches and updates, which I think Apple has shown they do.

I'm sure we'll see 7.1.2 here in the next week or so.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[jrswizzle]

No argument. I was responding to those that think this is a complete non-issue or not worth reporting on/fixing.

There's a difference between thinking this is not worth fixing and being realistic in thinking that this likely won't affect anyone in any meaningful way.

If its characterized as something that is a big flaw, its definitely click bait. That's all. I think Apple has proven over the years they are quick to patch security flaws.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Is that a jailbreak app, OS X app?

Someone would still have to have physical access to my device....

iExplore is an OS X app (they may have a Win version by now?), doesn't require jailbreaking to use, but not sure how much access it has to iOS filespace. Believe it's user level access only.

 

[Omniver]

Every time someone says “This consumer electronic device isn’t secure for (x) reason!” and then follows it up with a description that pretty much requires direct hardware access, I have to wonder. How easy do you think it is to steal stuff in my pockets?

You're missing the point. The risk isn't so much someone targeting you and trying to steal your phone to get the attachments, it's about being able to reasonably believe that the data is safe on lost/stolen phones. Think about the huge number of corporate users who have attachments containing company information or personal information about their clients (maybe about you and me). Before this flaw, if a company phone was lost in a Taxi there was a very reasonable argument that the attachment data was protected by separate encryption keys requiring a physical unlock of the device to be able to access. With this flaw, it appears that this is no longer true and the data on a lost phone is recoverable without unlocking the phone. This potentially, depending on jurisdiction, equates to a reportable data breach every time a phone with NPPI is lost.

This is a big deal.

 

[charlituna]

So iOS versions 7.0.3 and below encrypted attachments? Why would they drop that feature?

They probably didn't drop anything. If you look at the linked article where Apple 'states' you see that it is talking about using a passcode on your device. You can also encrypt backups on computer with a password. And Apple uses encryption during transit of items.

This alleged flaw is about items on the phone. That no one can see without physical access to phone and/ or computer. If someone had either you have bigger issues.

This reads more like someone trying to get attention and press than an actual issue

 

[leroypants]

Apple gave the NSA full access to all Iphone data before and they will continue to give the NSA full access.