Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Sunbird Shuts Down iMessage App for Android Over Security Concerns

CookItOff said:
Curious if this is the new future for side loading? A bunch of unvetted apps promising security but failing. And when used with those who don’t side load both systems get compromised. As noted: iMessage users who received messages from One Phone user became compromised.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what it looks like. Companies that don't care and want to make a quick buck will do whatever they want and there isn't anything to stop them. And they may not even want to hack you themselves. But, their software is so full of holes it will get hacked by someone anyway.
 
  • Like
  • Angry
Reactions: b17777, Shirasaki, zach-coleman and 3 others
I'm sure this has nothing to do with RCS coming to iPhones and no sense spending money on a soon to be redundant service.
 
Kebabselector said:
Should be opt in/out so most won't bother.
Click to expand...
Without knowing exactly how this gets implemented. We can't know for sure.

For instance. Say you click on a link that wants to download an app. Is iOS going to freak out and "not" show you how to get the app you're downloading? OR, is it simply going to let you know you do this at your own risk AND then bring you do the settings app to allow side-loading? If the latter, then it's a piece of cake to trick you to installing a malicious app or even a legit one that is well, poorly written. If the first option (which I kind of doubt), then there maybe too much resistance for the EU to be happy with Apple's implementation of Side-loading. I'm sure they want it to be somewhat easy to do. Would Apple be "forced" to option 2? Or do they just disclaim it on how to do it, but not actively take you to the place to enable it? Does the App provide the instructions? In which case you can't stop someone from doing something they shouldn't. Or prevent malicious actors from getting access to your device.
 
  • Like
  • Angry
Reactions: b17777 and Shirasaki
Personally, I think this is the point where should Apple sue these companies on the grounds of causing or potentially causing harm to consumers with Apple IDs. That this negligence in security not only can and will lead to harm to the users who willing have their info, but also their friends and family once that person’s info is leak/hacked and used improperly
 
  • Haha
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: djbuddha, msackey, mazz0 and 1 other person
zorinlynx said:
It's weird how multiple ways to do iMessage on android were shut down in such a short period of time. I wonder if Apple had something to do with it behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
It's because of the bad press and it's clearly a security issue sending people's iCloud credentials over http. To my knowledge the company hasn't done anything illegal or some reverse engineering, just re-routing received iMessages thru their servers to android phones.

People still do that for gmail using Spark, Airmail etc..
 
  • Like
Reactions: djbuddha, dustin_, zach-coleman and 1 other person
BootsWalking said:
This has absolutely nothing to do with Europe's mandated changes but yeah, let's get a dig into nations actually doing something to protect consumer interests because that's what I've been trained to do by my overlords.
Click to expand...
"Breaking News" - A company called Nothing did nothing and got nothing for its efforts.

This has everything to do with the EU's gatekeeper laws thank you very much. Let's have more competition they say.
Let's open up the Apple ecosystem they want. Allow 3rd party access they decry.

Let them eat cake.
 
  • Like
  • Sad
  • Angry
Reactions: 4ppleJack, b17777, skyperbon and 4 others
zorinlynx said:
It's weird how multiple ways to do iMessage on android were shut down in such a short period of time. I wonder if Apple had something to do with it behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
Well sunbird and nothing chats were both really just sunbird's technology under the hood
 
  • Like
Reactions: mazz0
All this fuss and commotion with workaround apps just to send a text message jeez. If a green bubble friend sends me a gif or photo, I can still see it just fine and vice versa. If we must absolutely have the raw quality studio shot of the funny thing I saw at the grocery store checkout line, I can send an email, where they will get near real time notifications just the same.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: mazz0
NOTHING could have prevented this!

NOBODY saw this coming! Especially people on these forums. It's not like Palm tried to pull this crap with syncing their WebOS phones with iTunes and it got blown up repeatedly.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple had something to do with this...
 
  • Angry
Reactions: Shirasaki
CookItOff said:
Curious if this is the new future for side loading? A bunch of unvetted apps promising security but failing. And when used with those who don’t side load both systems get compromised. As noted: iMessage users who received messages from One Phone user became compromised.
Click to expand...

Well I guess you’ll just have to get rid of any Android-using friends in your life. ;)

There are apps in the App Store that are doing shady things right now. There will always be security concerns. This has been the case the moment data from one computer was first loaded into another.
 
  • Disagree
Reactions: iOS Geek
Vega20 said:
This is their statement on Open Source and security from the website,

"Some of the messaging community believes that software that is open source is more secure. It is our view that it is not. The more visibility there is into the infrastructure and code, the easier it is to penetrate it. By design, open source software is distributed in nature. There is no central authority to ensure quality and maintenance and by putting that responsibility on Sunbird, development would not be feasible. Open source vulnerabilities typically stem from poorly written code that leave gaps, which attackers can use to carryout malicious activities. To help satisfy our own ambitious goals of providing total privacy and security, we are currently undergoing a third party audit that will validate our security, encryption and data policies and plan on receiving ISO 27001 certification after launch."

Aged like fine wine that did...
Click to expand...

They clearly don’t have a PR pro on the team bc the obligatory “customer security is our highest priority” is missing just like their customer security is.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Apple247
zorinlynx said:
It's weird how multiple ways to do iMessage on android were shut down in such a short period of time. I wonder if Apple had something to do with it behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
These solutions ain't great to begin with.

xDENTALPLANx said:
Wild that anyone may have bought the Nothing phone based on the promise that it could send / receive iMessages
Click to expand...
I doubt that's the incentive to purchase such phone.
 
Better to use the services which don't require your Apple ID, although only one is left BlueBubbles. Man I'm so happy Apple will do RCS next year so I don't have to jump through all these hoops.

Edit: I hope these guys do the same expose for Beeper, I'm not saying they are insecure, but would be good to have them examined as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back