271
AirDrop cracked by China, revealing phone number & email (9to5mac.com)
submitted 7 months ago by KarnaSubarna@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
39 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The Beijing institute developed the technique to crack an iPhone’s encrypted device log to identify the numbers and emails of senders who share AirDrop content, the city’s judicial bureau said in an online post. Police have identified multiple suspects via that method, the agency said, without disclosing if anyone was arrested. “It improves the efficiency and accuracy of case-solving and prevents the spread of inappropriate remarks as well as potential bad influences,” the bureau said.

Further read: https://sfj.beijing.gov.cn/sfj/sfdt/ywdt82/flfw93/436331732/index.html

all 48 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] WhatsThePoint@lemmy.world 114 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Or China is just saying they cracked Air Drop to try to scare protestors from using this feature. If they cracked it, why would they make it public that they cracked it when they could catch dissidents using it without their knowledge? Not to mention making it public puts pressure on Apple to patch it, which would destroy their access. Doesn’t make much sense to make this public if it is true.

[-] drdabbles@lemmy.world 98 points 7 months ago

Whenever a government or government agency announces a successful exploit, I presume they've already exhausted it and moved on to another one that won't be patched or publicly divulged for many years.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 5 points 7 months ago

I don't buy it. This smells like a way of causing fear in those who want to share information.

[-] hangukdise@lemmy.ml 7 points 7 months ago

¿Por que no Los dos?

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

iMessage ~~is insecure~~ security isn't as robust as most people think, and this has been known for years.

People still use it

[-] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It would be easy for apple to debunk this if it wasn't true. I'd stay away from it and use proven secure means.

[-] TaviRider@reddthat.com 7 points 7 months ago

There’s no way to prove that something is secure. (It reduces to the halting problem.)

[-] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 5 points 7 months ago

You can still have more certainty or less. If it's open-source - it doesn't guarantee safety by any means, sure, but if it's proprietary like this one - you don't even get a chance to check what's going on.

[-] idunnololz@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

Just make a machine to prove it /s

[-] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

42

[-] KnightontheSun@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

That's it, job done. We have our answer, everyone!

[-] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 1 points 7 months ago

Nothing is ever completely secure if it's connected to the internet. It just likely isn't worth it to hack into. That's why macs used to be "virus proof".

Well, yes, because Windows was a much more lucrative target.

[-] Ferk@kbin.social 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

How can Apple debunk it?

If I told you I know of a way by which I can "hack" the lock of your house to enter it, how can you prove whether I'm lying or not? Specially if I'm not willing to show you how I do it, and I haven't given you any proof of having actually done it that you can try to dispute.

[-] beta_tester@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago

sending email and phone number with each airdrop doesn't sound right. Apple isn't a good company but they aren't dumb. Why would you send that info?

[-] Ferk@kbin.social 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

They aren't saying that the email/number is part of the message. What the are saying is that they are able to decrypt the logs in order to identify the senders .

It could be they cross-reference matching some internal ids / tokens / physical addresses of the devices together with all the data the Chinese government already has (or can obtain) ...or it could be a bluff.. who knows... there's not enough information, and what we know is probably distorted.

[-] Aatube@kbin.social 3 points 7 months ago

Why would they? They have all their production logistics in China.

[-] hottari@lemmy.ml 37 points 7 months ago

Apple has been taking massive Ls after Ls wrt the security of their iPhones in recent times. It's almost as if magically branding your products "private and secure" doesn't work.

[-] ExLisper@linux.community 17 points 7 months ago

Finding an exploit created by state-level actor is not a massive L. They have shown in the past that they are able to hack air gaped systems, weaken commonly used security standards and implant vulnerabilities into commercial software. I don't think you will find a company that is immune to this. Other than that, did they really have so many security issues recently?

[-] hottari@lemmy.ml 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Read the article. The exploit was found by the state actors not created by them. Apple is ultimately responsible for the mishap due to the insecure design of the aforementioned feature.

Even though China partially had a hand in the creation of this flaw according to the history of the feature.

And yes, Apple has been a constant feature on the news for such privacy leaks of late. You just haven't been paying attention.

[-] ExLisper@linux.community 6 points 7 months ago

If state actor would create it it would be a backdoor. Exploits are by definition bugs/security issues that can be.... well, exploited and state-level actors are really good at finding them. Still, if it takes resources of state actor to find an exploit I don't think it's a massive L. Yes, it's totally possible they had some other serious security issues recently and I haven't been paying attention. That's why I'm asking.

[-] red@sopuli.xyz 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Ordering your hardware from China makes it a tad bit easier to shoehorn backdoors in it.

[-] Cqrd@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 months ago

That's... basically all hardware these days...

[-] red@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

Indeed 😬

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 20 points 7 months ago

Usually when one of Apple’s security measures is breached, the company would issue an update to patch it. We’d hope this will happen here, but the Chinese government is likely to apply pressure on the iPhone maker to leave the exploit unpatched – at least, on Chinese devices.

WELL, Apple? ? . . . We're waiting

[-] rdri@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Too busy protecting iOS users from iMessages of unauthorized color.

[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 15 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Probably not a reliable source but you should still use Foss with strong encryption (RSA2048+ ideally)

[-] Scolding7300@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago

For airdrop? There's a foss airdrop?!

[-] southernwolf@pawb.social 15 points 7 months ago

While I have little respect for Apple's overall privacy practices, this sounds a lot like the CCP making something up to scare protesters and dissidents from using AirDrop. There's no sensible reason they would be advertising such an exploit openly, especially when it could potentially be used to secretly spy on dissidents, protesters, or even used in foreign espionage. Something doesn't sit right with this.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 9 points 7 months ago

Well if Apple doesn't fix it, like they haven't fixed the iMessage flaws) they've known about for years, then it's still useful.

And most people won't even know of this issue, and they'd still use Airdrop anyway, saying "I'm not interesting enough to spy on".

iMessage lacks forward secrecy, so if I get your RSA key which never changes, I can read all your old messages and any new ones too. And that's just one issue with iMessage. And people don't know about it, and still use it, thinking it's secure. (it's pretty good in my opinion, just wish Apple would fix the issues linked article).

[-] shotgun_surgery@links.hackliberty.org 1 points 7 months ago

Totally agree. Their logic is to hide and deny everything, and if they say something openly, it's likely a lie.

[-] ebits21@lemmy.ca 11 points 7 months ago

Oh China, you rascal.

[-] Apollo2323@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 7 months ago

This is a great podcast about the vulnerabilities China has for their own only...

Click Here: 101. Bug bounties with Chinese characteristics

Episode webpage: http://www.recordedfuture.com/podcast

Media file: https://chrt.fm/track/DG79BE/traffic.megaphone.fm/RFEI8990516258.mp3?updated=1704745626

[-] bappity@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

only reason that I can see why they're saying they've done this has to be some kind of scare tactic

would be a bit stupid to reveal this hand otherwise

[-] yogthos@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 months ago

LMAO hope they do another purge of CIA operatives https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/world/asia/china-cia-spies-espionage.html

this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
271 points (96.6% liked)

Privacy

30690 readers
2634 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
k_o_t@lemmy.ml
tmpod@lemmy.pt
Yayannick@lemmy.ml
ranok@sopuli.xyz