SEE THE FIVE LIKELY WAYS WHICH THE FBI USED TO HACK THE IPHONE?
SPKB reported recently on the breakthrough hack of the the iPhone 5C which belonged to the late San Bernadino terrorist Sayed Farouk after a protracted legal showdown with Apple corporation.
Experts including Robert Cunningham, chair of the IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative, and Dudu Mimran, chief technology officer for the Telekom Innovation Laboratories at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, believe this is the most likely approach used by the FBI.
Inside the iPhone 5C is an A6 chip that features both processors and RAM, which work together to achieve faster speeds than those that were available in previous models. In order to keep track of passcode attempts, this “system on a chip” also communicates with non-volatile memory stored elsewhere, such as in flash memory.
Since that model of iPhone allows only few password tries and an optional feature that wipes off data off the iPhone if a foul play is suggested, “They can basically reset the place where it says, ‘Now you've tried nine times (assuming the maximum number of tries is 10),’” Canetti says. “When the phone asks, ‘How many times have you tried?’ they say—‘No, we’ve only tried one time.’”
Within an iPhone, NAND is thought to play a role in erasing a digital key required to unlock an iPhone’s memory after logging 10 failed password attempts. But if someone knows how to circumvent or reset the tally after each attempt, they could help themselves to unlimited tries.
For example, a hacker could hook up a resistor to the iPhone’s internal circuits and read the amount of energy that flows by with each passcode attempt. Ben-Gurion University’s Mimran likens it to putting your ear up to a safe, listening for a satisfying click as you turn the dial (hackers are really crazy).
Side attack has its flaws because as the hackers become more sophisticated, the chip makers become wiser at their own craft; they now install features that cause a chip to generate electromagnetic noise or maintain a steady power draw no matter what function they’re performing in order to confuse attackers.
Although this feat of the FBI has been shrouded in secrecy and covertness, we bring to you these 5 suggested Hack methods by which the FBI may have performed the magic according to 9 different Computer forensic experts who gave audience to IEEE correspondents.
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| Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images |
1. THE EASY WAY
It is the most straightforward and common of other ways. It involves exploiting a loophole in the iOS 9 software.
In hacking, a security hole also known as a zero-day could be used to take advantage of the entire software and sneak in attacks to dislodge the entire security apparatus of the system. A bug can then be introduced through text messages or the USB port through a laptop.
As to what kind of zero-day was exploited, the experts are not clear but are highly positive that such a hole could have existed. It is worthy of note that last year, a cyber security firm Zerodium paid a $1 million bounty to a team that exposed a hole in iOS 9. Mimram concluded this assertion by noting that “There is no software that is considered bulletproof.”
As to what kind of zero-day was exploited, the experts are not clear but are highly positive that such a hole could have existed. It is worthy of note that last year, a cyber security firm Zerodium paid a $1 million bounty to a team that exposed a hole in iOS 9. Mimram concluded this assertion by noting that “There is no software that is considered bulletproof.”
2. TRICK THE OS
Hackers may have circumvented the iPhone’s passcode protection by hijacking operations between the A6 Chip and the non-volatile memory. Let me elucidate briefly on the iPhone 5C's internal architecture.Inside the iPhone 5C is an A6 chip that features both processors and RAM, which work together to achieve faster speeds than those that were available in previous models. In order to keep track of passcode attempts, this “system on a chip” also communicates with non-volatile memory stored elsewhere, such as in flash memory.
If the line of communication that physically carries the password attempt and recovery instructions is tampered with, A knowledgeable hacker could use this line to re-route Apple’s software, which typically receives marching orders from both the phone’s flash and RAM, to an external device says Ran Canetti, a computer scientist at Tel Aviv University and head of the school’s Check Point Institute of Information Security.
After reconfiguring the Phone's brain, the traditional "brute force" attack can now be used to suggest passcode combinations. Fortunately enough the phone used a 4 numerical digit combination which has only about 10,000 possible combinations. Available softwares can factor this combination in a few minutes
3. RESET (and RESET and RESET) THE MEMORY
One of the most popular theories among crypto-experts, including Gary McGraw, chief technology officer at the software security consulting firm Cigital, is that the FBI hacked the iPhone through a tactic called NAND mirroring. NAND is a form of flash technology used in memory chips for high-capacity and long-term storage.Within an iPhone, NAND is thought to play a role in erasing a digital key required to unlock an iPhone’s memory after logging 10 failed password attempts. But if someone knows how to circumvent or reset the tally after each attempt, they could help themselves to unlimited tries.
One way to manually do that might be to remove the memory chip that NAND protects and make a digital copy of it. Once the copy is made, a hacker could test out combinations and simply reload the memory back onto the original chip before the 10-attempt limit is reached. iPhone forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski has said this strategy is a lot like hitting “save” on a video game. If you die (or, in this case, lose your data) you simply go back and pick up where you left off.
An iPhone’s memory chips are shrouded in layers of both physical and digital protections to block hackers. To uncover its secrets, hackers must sometimes mount a physical attack.
This tedious procedure involves the following :
Apple however said in a white paper published last fall that in order to obtain this key, a hacker would have to mount a “highly sophisticated and expensive physical attack.” This is certainly an option the FBI may have considered, but runs the risk of obliterating the memory forever if a technician makes even the slightest miscalculation.
Dan Wallach, a computer security expert at Rice University, sounds a note of warning as regards this process “It's a destructive process that has a percentage chance of destroying the device.”
4. TEAR EVERYTHING APART
This method sounds funny but in reality, a hacker may go beyond software attacks and come all out to the physical hacking of a device to bypass tamper proof features.
This tedious procedure involves the following :
- heating up the device in order to detach a memory chip.
- using acid to remove the surface layers of the chip in an act known as “decapping.”
- That could be followed up with some precision work with a tiny laser drill for reaching sections of the chip the hacker wants to more closely examine.
Apple however said in a white paper published last fall that in order to obtain this key, a hacker would have to mount a “highly sophisticated and expensive physical attack.” This is certainly an option the FBI may have considered, but runs the risk of obliterating the memory forever if a technician makes even the slightest miscalculation.
Dan Wallach, a computer security expert at Rice University, sounds a note of warning as regards this process “It's a destructive process that has a percentage chance of destroying the device.”
I do not think the FBI would love to take a chance at this.
5. SNEAK IN THROUGH THE SIDE
Side Channel Attack is the use of specialized tools to monitor the properties of a device such These clues include its power consumption, acoustic properties, electromagnetic radiation, or the time it takes for a specific component to complete a task and hence stage a hack on the device.For example, a hacker could hook up a resistor to the iPhone’s internal circuits and read the amount of energy that flows by with each passcode attempt. Ben-Gurion University’s Mimran likens it to putting your ear up to a safe, listening for a satisfying click as you turn the dial (hackers are really crazy).
Side attack has its flaws because as the hackers become more sophisticated, the chip makers become wiser at their own craft; they now install features that cause a chip to generate electromagnetic noise or maintain a steady power draw no matter what function they’re performing in order to confuse attackers.
Technology is beautiful..
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