iPHONE PASSWORDS STOLEN IN JUST 6 MINUTES

Research being carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology in Germany has revealed an iPhone password can be recovered in just 6 minutes from a locked device. In other words, if you lose your iPhone, but it has a password lock, anyone can unlock it in just a few minutes without having to figure out the passcode.

The technique requires that the iPhone be jailbroken and an SSH server be installed on the phone, both of which can be done without the handset being unlocked. Keychain scripts can then be used to run system commands and display full details of the user’s account including the password to unlock the phone (as in the image above).

While the password for the device can be revealed, other passwords for the most part remain protected.

It is made clear in their study that using encryption on the iPhone is not a way around this problem as the encryption relies on the user’s secret information (revealed by this method) to gain access. The best advice at the moment is to change passwords as soon as a device is lost or stolen to limit the damage.

APPLE DROPS JAILBREAK DETECTION API

Apple has quietly dropped the API used to detect jailbroken phones just six months after introducing it in iOS. Apple gave no explanation for their action. The API was mainly used by enterprise specialists to make sure their networks weren't being compromised.

Sybase VP of engineering Joe Owen seems to think that they dropped it because it's nearly impossible to keep such an API hackproof:

"It's an interesting concept - asking the OS to tell you if it has been compromised," Owen says. "Because a smart attacker might first change that very part of the OS. Jailbreaks often get better and better at disguising the fact that anything has been compromised."

This doesn't mean that jailbreakers are free and clear. Most companies create their own solutions for keeping their networks safe and detecting jailbroken devices. [NetworkWorld via Gizmodo]

iPHONE JAILBREAK ULTRASN0W WORKING ON iOS 4.2.1

Earlier this morning, dev-team member MuscleNerd tweeted that he, and his gang of merry men, have successfully tweaked their ultrasn0w iPhone unlocking tool to working on Apple’s latest mobile iOS iteration, 4.2.1. If you read further down the twitter timeline, it looks like — for the time being — ultrasn0w is only working on iPhone 3G/3GS handsets with a baseband of 05.15.04; the iPhone 4 uses a different baseband and still needs more work. Despite not having a one-stop unlock for all iPhones, the dev-team will release the working version of ultrasn0w for the iPhone 3G/3GS in the very near future — they will not make users of said handset wait until the iPhone 4 exploit is completed. [BGR]

MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO WINDOWS PHONE 7 JAILBREAK

Hot on the heels of the release of a utility for bypassing the Windows Marketplace and sideloading your own apps, Microsoft has released a brief statement on the state of the Windows Phone 7 hacking community.

"We anticipated that people would attempt to unlock the phones and explore the underlying operating system. We encourage people to use their Windows Phone as supplied by the manufacturer to ensure the best possible user experience. Attempting to unlock a device could void the warranty, disable phone functionality, interrupt access to Windows Phone 7 services or render the phone permanently unusable."

Of course they want to put the fear in people that may consider jailbreak their spanking new WP7 devices with cautions of bricking the phone. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft takes a hands off approach or plays a cat-and-mouse game with jailbreakers ala Apple. [WinRumors]

WINDOWS PHONE 7 GETS JAILBREAK

Windows Phone 7 has been jailbroken, meaning apps outside of the official Marketplace will be available to download and use, just like those offered to iPhone users through Cydia.

The jailbreak is called ChevronWP7 with the developers stating as part of the release today:

Today we have an exciting breakthrough for the Windows Phone 7 homebrew community – the ability for anyone to unlock a WP7 device without a Marketplace developer account.

Unlocking allows the sideloading of experimental applications that would otherwise can’t be published to the Marketplace, such as those which access private or native APIs.

The jailbreak comes in the form of an executable file that requires a USB cable to install. It’s also fully reversible leaving your WP7 phone intact if you decide to revert back.

It’s early days yet, but a jailbreak so early in the life of WP7 means we could have a healthy unofficial set of apps available within a few months.

Download the jailbreak executable at ChevronWP7.

iOS 4.2.1 JAILBREAK HITS

The Dev-Team Blog was just updated with a new redsn0w version 0.9.6b4 jailbreak (based on Geohot's Limera1n bootrom exploit) for iOS 4.2.1. Unfortunately, iOS device owners won't find jailbreaking as easy as navigating to a website. And the 4.2.1 jailbreak is currently "tethered" so owners of the iPhone 4, iPad, and newer iPhone 3GS and iPod touch models will have to reattach to a PC or Mac to boot into a jailbroken state each time your device loses power or needs a reboot. Those of you who rely on the ultrasn0w unlock should hold off for now -- good advice for anyone not comfortable with terms like "SHSH blobs" or "Cydia." [Engadget]

WINDOWS PHONE 7 JAILBREAK IMMENENT

As noted by enthusiast blog istartedsomething, Windows Phone 7 is on the verge of being jailbroken. Actually, hackers have already gained root access Windows Phone 7′s registry and file system — their methods simply aren’t yet bundled up in a nice little user-friendly package. “Jailbreaking” or “rooting” is a process that will allow users to install applications that have not been approved by Microsoft. It will also allow developers to build applications that utilize functions of the OS that are not accessible using standard developers tools. As it did with the iPhone, a Windows Phone 7 jailbreak will open up a whole new realm of possibilities for apps and customizations that would otherwise be unavailable to end users. [BGR]

PS3 UPDATE TO LOCK OUT JAILBREAKING

The newest mandatory Sony PS3 update doesn't have any new features.  It is designed to remove the ability to jailbreak the device as has been widely reported everywhere recently.

"Hi everyone! A minor update to your PS3 system is now available via system software update v3.42 that includes additional security features," Sony's Director of Hardware Marketing wrote on the official blog. "For more details and instructions on how to update the system software for the PS3 system, please visit the PS3 System Updates page." [Playstation Blog; Ars Technica]