From iPhone to iBrick

Apple has apparently made good on their threat to disable hacked iPhones (BBC News). Their latest iPhone software update has rendered the hacked or unlocked handsets inoperable. Depending on which hack was applied, some handsets may still be operable if fitted with an original AT&T SIM card (San Jose Mercury News, Brisbane Times). Although Apple has publicly said that they would not go out of their way to disable hacked handsets on purpose, this will definitely still remain as a big question in many people’s mind.

Internet sites are now rife with discussions on this software upgrade (or downgrade for those who ended up with an iBrick). One big issue is whether Apple was entitled to disable the hacked iPhones. Martin McKeay questions the legality of tying the iPhone to an AT&T contract. I am too far away from the US to be familiar with US laws, but I imagine there is no question about anti-competitive laws playing into this matter.

The iPhone software is copyrighted. Does its license permit users to make modifications to its software? This could be a point that Apple might use to their advantage. If there was a breach of license terms, technically Apple could be entitled to terminate the license… which could in turn be effected through the disabling of the iPhone software.

Lest we forget, amid the fury of iBrick developments, the latest iPhone software update is supposed to fix things. It does reportedly fix 10 security vulnerabilities in the Safari web browser, the Mail application, and the phone’s handling of Bluetooth service. The bluetooth fix is probably the most critical. A mishandling of the bluetooth’s Service Discovery Protocol packets allows remote attacks to execute arbitrary code on the iPhone. This means that an unfixed iPhone can be rather trivially exploited by an attacker within the vicinity.

Thankfully the software update does deliver clear benefits, otherwise it would seem like Apple clearly had an iBrick’ing agenda.

Now, I can see owners of hacked iPhones in a dilemma. Upgrade their iPhone to an iBrick, or give up their iPhone to a drive-by hacker.