Thursday, August 12, 2010

Apple released updates for iOS: JailbreakMe code goes public

Last week, Apple blocked JailbreakMe from its in-store Wi-Fi to refrain users from jailbreaking demo iPhones. On August 11, 2010, Apple released updates for Apple--iOS 4.0.2 running on iPhones and iPod Touches, and iOS 3.2.2 running on iPads. Soon after releasing the update, Comex, the creator of the JailbreakMe 2.0, posted the source code. This would enable hackers to develop new softwares to attack iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

This is a serious security issue for iPhone users especially those who jailbroke their iPhones. There is a good chance that these users would fall victim to nasty attacks in near future and lose their valuable data. Even Mac OS X is vulnerable to similar attack for it contains a FreeType font engine.

The updates released by Apple would not run on first generation iPhone and iPod Touch. The security patches have been developed by another jailbreak hack developer and available through Cydia. In order to get the patch, owners of the first generation iPhone and iPod Touch would have to jailbreak their devices first and then download and apply the update.

Another major problem of this update is that after installing it, users would not be able to run any application that is not authorized by Apple which means, no more jailbreaking. If the user wants to continue with his jailbroken iPhone he might fall prey to a nasty hack and would lose all his valuable data.

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