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How is this different from how Android works, where you have to unlock your phone and explicitly tell it to connect every time you want to use a USB connection

How is this different from how Android works, where you have to unlock your phone and explicitly tell it to connect every time you want to use a USB connection for anything other than charging?

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago
(The elcomsoft article is down for me, so I don't know the details but) I think it's to do with DFU ("Definitely Fucked-up") mode in iPhones that lets you install a new OS version when the main iOS won't boot-up successfully.
- gruez 9y ago
  it's probably not talking about DFU mode >To improve security, for a locked iOS device to communicate with USB accessories you must connect an accessory via lightning connector to the device while unlocked – or enter your device passcode while connected – at least once a week "accessories" makes me think it's a "regular" connection, not the recovery one.
  - ancarda 9y ago
    Do you know if Lightning headphones count? Aside from charging, it's the only thing I plug into my Lightning port.
    - pwinnski 9y ago
      Nope. What changes is that any device for which you've previously been prompted to "Trust this device?" saying yes will no longer make the iPhone trust that computer forever, only seven days. Unless you unlock the iPhone again.
    - mynameisvlad 9y ago
      If you're actively using your device, this wouldn't apply anyway. You unlock your device far more often than once a week.
iiiggglll 9y ago
iOS already has the "Trust this computer?" dialog[1], but this sounds like it disables the port to the point where the dialog wouldn't even appear and no connection could get through, trusted or not. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778
xnyanta 9y ago
The Apple driver creates some sort of cryptographic keypair between the device and the computer to "remember" that you accepted the connection and not prompt you to connect in the future. If this file was recovered from a victim's computer, forensic software can sue it to bypass the prompt. According to the article, however there is now also a 7-day expiration on these cryptographic keypairs.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- colejohnson66 9y ago
  > If this file was recovered from a victim's computer, forensic software can sue it to bypass the prompt. That typo gave me a good laugh
- floatingatoll 9y ago
  Not quite - after 7 days, the phone has to be PIN unlocked to reenable the existing keypairs.
- bscphil 9y ago
  Ah. This would make more sense and clear up some of my confusion. So far as I know, Android doesn't have this dubious feature. You have to manually give permission every time. So this change is essentially setting a time limit for anyone to recover your keys.
chis 9y ago
It already does that, but now after 7 days it won’t even open a data connection to check if the computer is trusted. This also removes the last obvious channel for exploits. Sometimes there have been jailbreaks/unlocks which just need physical access to the lightning port, but those wouldn’t work after 7 days now.
- CodeWriter23 9y ago
  Not true. Lightning headphones work without any authorization at all.
  - RIMR 9y ago
    Just because you don't have to explicitly give your lightning headphones permission to receive audio from your phone does not mean that there isn't some sort of authorization going on. In 11.04, if you leave a phone locked for greater than 7 days, you would need the unlock PIN in order to connect any headphones. Obviously, Apple would recognize the device as an audio device, and it would be automatically added, but the connection wouldn't even be established until you entered your PIN.

How is this different from how Android works, where you have to unlock your phone and explicitly tell it to connect every time you want to use a USB connection for anything other than charging?

DaiPlusPlus 9y ago

(The elcomsoft article is down for me, so I don't know the details but) I think it's to do with DFU ("Definitely Fucked-up") mode in iPhones that lets you install a new OS version when the main iOS won't boot-up successfully.

gruez 9y ago
it's probably not talking about DFU mode >To improve security, for a locked iOS device to communicate with USB accessories you must connect an accessory via lightning connector to the device while unlocked – or enter your device passcode while connected – at least once a week "accessories" makes me think it's a "regular" connection, not the recovery one.
- ancarda 9y ago
  Do you know if Lightning headphones count? Aside from charging, it's the only thing I plug into my Lightning port.
  - pwinnski 9y ago
    Nope. What changes is that any device for which you've previously been prompted to "Trust this device?" saying yes will no longer make the iPhone trust that computer forever, only seven days. Unless you unlock the iPhone again.
  - mynameisvlad 9y ago
    If you're actively using your device, this wouldn't apply anyway. You unlock your device far more often than once a week.

iiiggglll 9y ago

iOS already has the "Trust this computer?" dialog[1], but this sounds like it disables the port to the point where the dialog wouldn't even appear and no connection could get through, trusted or not. [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778

xnyanta 9y ago

The Apple driver creates some sort of cryptographic keypair between the device and the computer to "remember" that you accepted the connection and not prompt you to connect in the future. If this file was recovered from a victim's computer, forensic software can sue it to bypass the prompt. According to the article, however there is now also a 7-day expiration on these cryptographic keypairs.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
colejohnson66 9y ago
> If this file was recovered from a victim's computer, forensic software can sue it to bypass the prompt. That typo gave me a good laugh
floatingatoll 9y ago
Not quite - after 7 days, the phone has to be PIN unlocked to reenable the existing keypairs.
bscphil 9y ago
Ah. This would make more sense and clear up some of my confusion. So far as I know, Android doesn't have this dubious feature. You have to manually give permission every time. So this change is essentially setting a time limit for anyone to recover your keys.

chis 9y ago

It already does that, but now after 7 days it won’t even open a data connection to check if the computer is trusted. This also removes the last obvious channel for exploits. Sometimes there have been jailbreaks/unlocks which just need physical access to the lightning port, but those wouldn’t work after 7 days now.

CodeWriter23 9y ago
Not true. Lightning headphones work without any authorization at all.
- RIMR 9y ago
  Just because you don't have to explicitly give your lightning headphones permission to receive audio from your phone does not mean that there isn't some sort of authorization going on. In 11.04, if you leave a phone locked for greater than 7 days, you would need the unlock PIN in order to connect any headphones. Obviously, Apple would recognize the device as an audio device, and it would be automatically added, but the connection wouldn't even be established until you entered your PIN.