New Techniques Show iPhone Data Extraction

Previously unpublicized techniques show how personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through trusted devices.

Researcher Jonathan Zdiarski showed in a presentation at the Hackers on Planet Earth conference this week, how the services take a surprising amount of data for what Apple says are “diagnostic services meant to help engineers”.

The users are not notified that the services are running and can not disable them. There is no way for iPhone users to know what computers have previously been granted trusted status via the backup process or block any future connections.

The same techniques to circumvent the backup encryption could however also be used by law enforcement or others with access to the “trusted” computers to which the devices have been connected.

In a video demonstration where Zdiarski showed what he could extract from an unlocked phone and a trusted computer, he also told us that the only way to un-pair your iPhone is to wipe it. The NSA collaboration rumors started right away, but Apple denied creating any “back doors” for intelligence agencies.

”We have designed iOS so that its diagnostic functions do not compromise user privacy and security, but still provides needed information to enterprise IT departments, developers and Apple for troubleshooting technical issues,” Apple said. “A user must have unlocked their device and agreed to trust another computer before that computer is able to access this limited diagnostic data.”

Zdziarski said he did not believe that the services were aimed at spy agencies, but that they do extract way more information than needed, with little to no disclosure.

Security industry analyst Rich Mogull said Zdziarski’s work was overhyped but technically accurate. ”They are collecting more than they should be, and the only way to get it is to compromise security.”

Mogull also agreed with Zdziarski that since the tools exist, law enforcement will use them in cases where the desktop computers of targeted individuals can be confiscated, hacked or reached via their employers.

For all the attention to the previously unknown tools and other occasional bugs, Apple’s phones are widely considered more secure than those using Google Inc’s rival Android operating system, in part because Google does not have the power to send software fixes directly to those devices.

Thank you Reuters for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Apple.