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Due to the peculiarities of iOS and the Bluetooth protocol, iPhone smartphones can be hacked using a cheap device based on the Raspberry Pi, which even a person without experience in electronics can assemble. Such a gadget sends out fake notifications requiring you to enter your Apple ID password, which at the same time look like real ones. Many users can enter their password without seeing the fake, that is, they themselves can transfer it to the hacker. The range of such devices is 10-15 meters.
Hack iPhone "for a penny"
Modern Apple iPhone smartphones, which are banned in Russian ministries and state companies due to the threat of surveillance by the United States, turned out to be hackable using a single-board computer from the Raspberry Pi family. According to the TechCrunch portal, on the basis of this PC, you can assemble an inexpensive device that bypasses the protection of the device using very simple but effective methods - it literally forces the owner of the gadget to enter a password for it, but arranges everything so that the user does it of his own free will
The simplest device in its design costs, taking into account all its components, about $ 70 or about 6550 rubles. at the exchange rate of the Central Bank at the time of issue of the material. It will not be difficult to assemble it even for those who are not particularly friendly with electronics, and it is able to hack any password-protected iPhone within a radius of 10-15 meters.
The presentation of the device took place at the world's largest annual conference for hackers, security experts and developers Def Con 2023, and every visitor who owns an iPhone became an involuntary part of the event. All of a sudden, their phones started receiving notifications to enter their Apple ID password or transfer it to their Apple TV set-top box. The device works just like that - it takes advantage of the iPhone and Bluetooth protocols and displays notifications in the spirit of those that appear when a smartphone detects a new Apple AirPods headset. Many users, seeing Apple's branded notification, without a shadow of a doubt will enter their password, which will immediately be sent to the attacker.
How it all works
The author of the device, which has no name, is Jae Bochs, a conference participant working in the field of information security. In a small black box, he fit a cheap single-board computer Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W worth $ 15 (1410 rubles) and 65x30 mm in size, released in October 2021. This PC has a Wi-Fi module, as indicated by the “W” index in its name, and it is not devoid of a Bluetooth module, but the author of the gadget placed a separate Bluetooth adapter in the case. He chose it based on the availability of Linux drivers for it.
Also, the device is equipped with two antennas and an external battery. There is nothing more "iron" in it.
The author of the device said that the Bluetooth LE protocol used by the iPhone to connect, for example, to wireless headsets, allows nearby devices to "talk" to each other, even when the user turns off Bluetooth on the phone through the "Control Center". All he had to do was take advantage of this and write specialized software, and he ended up with a device that could send fake notifications to nearby iPhones. And since so many now almost never turn off the Bluetooth module even in the "Control Point", since the smartphone communicates with the headphones through it, it is not difficult to find a potential victim, which was clearly demonstrated by Box's "performance" at Def Con 2023.
Good hacker, bad hacker
Boxing acted in good faith, in the style of "white" hackers, and did not add the function of saving the passwords entered by users to the software he wrote. In other words, the notifications sent out by his creations are not 100% real - whatever the user enters in the field, this data will not be sent anywhere.
But Box openly stated that if he wanted to, he could add a few extra lines of code and harvest the passwords of Def Con attendees. By this, he wanted to show that a device assembled on the knee from components available on the market and costing very little can pose a serious danger to users.
He paid special attention to the fact that even users who turn off the Bluetooth module on their iPhone when they do not need it are still at risk of this kind of hacker attack. The vast majority of iPhone owners turn off Bluetooth via the Control Center drop-down menu at the top (on older iPhones with a physical Home button, it pops up from the bottom). But, according to Box, this is not enough to completely turn off Bluetooth - this can be done exclusively through the settings menu, which not everyone will find convenient and fast. And clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the "Control Center" simply activates the Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) protocol, which allows nearby devices to continue to exchange small data packets with each other.
It is this feature that makes it possible to use devices similar to the one that Box assembled to hack the iPhone. Jai himself claims that Apple has known about the problem since at least 2019, but does nothing to fix it. In his opinion, at least a warning about this could be added to iOS so that users are aware of the possible danger.
Hack iPhone "for a penny"
Modern Apple iPhone smartphones, which are banned in Russian ministries and state companies due to the threat of surveillance by the United States, turned out to be hackable using a single-board computer from the Raspberry Pi family. According to the TechCrunch portal, on the basis of this PC, you can assemble an inexpensive device that bypasses the protection of the device using very simple but effective methods - it literally forces the owner of the gadget to enter a password for it, but arranges everything so that the user does it of his own free will
The simplest device in its design costs, taking into account all its components, about $ 70 or about 6550 rubles. at the exchange rate of the Central Bank at the time of issue of the material. It will not be difficult to assemble it even for those who are not particularly friendly with electronics, and it is able to hack any password-protected iPhone within a radius of 10-15 meters.
The presentation of the device took place at the world's largest annual conference for hackers, security experts and developers Def Con 2023, and every visitor who owns an iPhone became an involuntary part of the event. All of a sudden, their phones started receiving notifications to enter their Apple ID password or transfer it to their Apple TV set-top box. The device works just like that - it takes advantage of the iPhone and Bluetooth protocols and displays notifications in the spirit of those that appear when a smartphone detects a new Apple AirPods headset. Many users, seeing Apple's branded notification, without a shadow of a doubt will enter their password, which will immediately be sent to the attacker.
How it all works
The author of the device, which has no name, is Jae Bochs, a conference participant working in the field of information security. In a small black box, he fit a cheap single-board computer Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W worth $ 15 (1410 rubles) and 65x30 mm in size, released in October 2021. This PC has a Wi-Fi module, as indicated by the “W” index in its name, and it is not devoid of a Bluetooth module, but the author of the gadget placed a separate Bluetooth adapter in the case. He chose it based on the availability of Linux drivers for it.
Also, the device is equipped with two antennas and an external battery. There is nothing more "iron" in it.
The author of the device said that the Bluetooth LE protocol used by the iPhone to connect, for example, to wireless headsets, allows nearby devices to "talk" to each other, even when the user turns off Bluetooth on the phone through the "Control Center". All he had to do was take advantage of this and write specialized software, and he ended up with a device that could send fake notifications to nearby iPhones. And since so many now almost never turn off the Bluetooth module even in the "Control Point", since the smartphone communicates with the headphones through it, it is not difficult to find a potential victim, which was clearly demonstrated by Box's "performance" at Def Con 2023.
Good hacker, bad hacker
Boxing acted in good faith, in the style of "white" hackers, and did not add the function of saving the passwords entered by users to the software he wrote. In other words, the notifications sent out by his creations are not 100% real - whatever the user enters in the field, this data will not be sent anywhere.
But Box openly stated that if he wanted to, he could add a few extra lines of code and harvest the passwords of Def Con attendees. By this, he wanted to show that a device assembled on the knee from components available on the market and costing very little can pose a serious danger to users.
He paid special attention to the fact that even users who turn off the Bluetooth module on their iPhone when they do not need it are still at risk of this kind of hacker attack. The vast majority of iPhone owners turn off Bluetooth via the Control Center drop-down menu at the top (on older iPhones with a physical Home button, it pops up from the bottom). But, according to Box, this is not enough to completely turn off Bluetooth - this can be done exclusively through the settings menu, which not everyone will find convenient and fast. And clicking on the Bluetooth icon in the "Control Center" simply activates the Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) protocol, which allows nearby devices to continue to exchange small data packets with each other.
It is this feature that makes it possible to use devices similar to the one that Box assembled to hack the iPhone. Jai himself claims that Apple has known about the problem since at least 2019, but does nothing to fix it. In his opinion, at least a warning about this could be added to iOS so that users are aware of the possible danger.
