Slashdot reported last week on research published by Swiss iPhone developer Nicolas Seriot about security holes in unjailbroken – that’s UNjailbroken – iPhones that could potentially compromise email accounts, browser history and even keytaps held in cache. The closed and unmodifiable nature of the stock iPhone OS means that malware could be carried by any app: even one legitimately purchased and downloaded from the App Store. 

In a talk on iPhone privacy in Geneva, Seriot described how a malicious application could harvest personal data on a non-jailbroken iPhone (PDF) without using private APIs. The presentation makes several suggestions to Apple on how to make the native iPhone environment more secure. For one thing, Seriot asserts that the keyboard cache oniPhones should be a OS service rather than being easily available to any app. He also recommends that the WiFi connection history be better hidden, and that the App Store reviews process be expanded to search for potential misuse of data. 

Seriot also makes the case that jailbroken iPhones can actually be more secure than stock iPhones, for the simple reason that jailbreakers have access to firewall software. The iPhone worms that were in the news not too long ago made headlines because they attacked jailbroken iPhones, but only those which still had the default SSH password. Once secured and running a firewall, jailbroken devices are harder to break into remotely than non-jailbrokeniPhones. This, of course, clearly contradicts Apple’s position that jailbroken devices are more vulnerable, and so may encounter resistance in the mainstream industry press. 

Users of all iPhones – jailbroken and not – should be wary of programs from untrustworthy developers, according to Seriot: especially professionals like like attorneys, doctors, finance officers who are legally bound to safeguard the privacy of data under their control. Interestingly, he also asserts that user reviews in the App Store are crucial, since customer experiences could save others from attack or validate the integrity of a program. After the recent scandal about faked reviews on the App Store, Apple would do well to keep better control of user feedback: as a security measure, if for no other reason.

(via TheiPhoneSpot.net)

 Retweet This Post

3G iPhone, Apple News, Featured, Jailbreak/Activate, iPhone, iPhone 3G S attack, iPhone, jailbroken, ssh, unjailbroken, virus, vunerability, winscp

Here is a simple tutproal on how to get the Bmobile carrier logo on your iPhone or iPhone 3G. This is useful/cool if you are in Trinidad & Tobago or a Bmobile customer in the Caribbean. To get started simply download the following Bmobile carrier logos:

Default_CARRIER_ATT.png

FSO_CARRIER_ATT.png

Then using SSH, log into your device and navigate to:

Code:

/System/Library/Carrier Bundles/ATT_US.bundl

Drag both of the carrier logo files there 
Then navigate to


Code:

/System/Library/Carrier Bundles/Unknown.bundle

Drag both of the carrier logo files there


Then open Make It Mine on your iPhone and set your carrier as ATT (not AT&T) 
Respring phone (if necessary) and voila

Result: 

 Retweet This Post

Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

Off Topic, iPhone Bmobile, carrier, logo, make it mine, ssh

Yesterday I wrote about the reflective dock (which is now available in case you didn’t know) by adding the http://david.ashman.com/apt repo to Cydia. The problem at the time was the also added WeatherIcon which crashed iPhones/iPod touches. Well it did anyway. It has since been upgraded so now the crashing issues are no longer there so long as you install version 1.1.1 or higher (1.2 was available at last check).

Its configuration, in a sense, is quite extensive. So this is where I’ll let AppleiPhoneSchool.com’s Brooke take over.

Note: This afternoon, I had an issue where when I selected the Weather Icon option in WinterBoard, it did not change the weather icon to a blank weather icon instead it added the new weather image and temp on top of my stock icon which looked absolutely terrible. If you are also having this issue, uninstall and reinstall the app in Cydia. Example screenshots below.

Ok, now, there are a few catches. When the app is not activated in WinterBoard, it adds a ? on top of your weather icon. The only way to get rid of the ? is to always have the app activated or to uninstall it. Example screenshots below.

The other catch…the app does not automatically detect your current location, you will need to change the zip code in the .plist to your current zip code. If you are comfortable with ssh, this is an easy thing to do. Below are instructions.

1. Find the file Library/Themes/Weather Icon.theme/Bundles/com.apple.springboard/com.ashman.WeatherIcon.plist on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

2. Open the com.ashman.WeatherIcon.plist file. Below is what it will look like.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>
<plist version=”1.0″>
<dict>
<key>Celsius</key>
<false/>
<key>Location</key>
<string>20852</string>
</dict>
</plist>

3. Change the number 20852 to whatever your current zip code is. Below is an example of what it would look like changed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>
<plist version=”1.0″>
<dict>
<key>Celsius</key>
<false/>
<key>Location</key>
<string>50023</string>
</dict>
</plist>

4. Close the file…it should ask you if you would like to save the change…yes, you want to save the changes.

5. Respring your springboard and you will have the current temp for your zip code on your weather icon.

With the current temp, it will also display a weather image that corresponds with the current time of day and weather conditions ex) a sun with clouds or a moon with snow.

I’m not sure how often the temp updates. The temperature has changed three times throughout the day today (so, maybe it updates every few hours?). There are also times when it doesn’t seem to connect and it says N/A instead of a temp.

Personally, I LOVE the concept and this is by far the closest we have come to this sort or mod. Does it need improvements to be more user friendly, most definitly. Will I leave it on my iPhone, yes.

If you are looking to mod the app even further, Doug has created a blank weather icon that you can use instead of the blank weather icon that comes with the app. To use it, just right click and Save As on the icon below. Then drag the icon (via ssh) into the Library/Themes/Weather Icon.theme/Icon folder and rename the icon file to Weather.

There are other modding options with this app as well. For example you could create your own weather images. If you do so, the files you will need to replace are located in the Library/Themes/Weather Icon.theme/Bundles/com.apple.springboard folder.

Let me know in the comments what you think of this app and if you are going to use it. Screenshots of how you modded it are cool too. Below are two quick mods that I tried. One is with Doug’s icon and the other I created a transparent icon.

 Retweet This Post

iPhone 1.1.1, 1.2., area code, country, crash, dock, Icon, iPhone, iphone 3g, ipod touch, reflective, ssh, updated, updating, weather, weathericon