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[EN VIDÉO] Phishing: what is it and how to prevent it? Phishing, or phishing in English, is a form of spam consisting of impersonating a reliable person or organization in order to hack information.
This is one of the novelties ofiOS 15the most recent version of the operating system Apple for its iPhones: the geolocation of the device even when it is switched off. Apple has integrated this function to allow you to find your iPhone misplaced even when turned off or running out of battery. It works for 24 hours, and it uses the principles of Air Tag.
It’s a good idea for the dizzy; Nevertheless, researchers from the University of Darmstadt, in Germany, warn that this makes the phone vulnerable to attacks even if it is turned off. Why ? Quite simply because if the device can be located, it means that several components are still working. It’s kind of super fashion Low Power Mode (LPM), quite distinct from the Economy modeenergy. This new mode causes certain chips, such as modules Bluetooth, Ultra Wide Band and NFCremain active when the iPhone turns off because it has run out of battery or because the user has decided to do so.
The Bluetooth chip is poorly protected
Energy-efficient, these chips therefore make it possible to find the device, but also, according to its experts, to install malicious software without the knowledge of the user. More specifically, it is the Bluetooth chip that is vulnerable to attacks. The reason is simple: the Bluetooth chip does not include any function of encryption of his firmware. A specificity that allowed researchers to hack it to run a corrupted firmware.
Does this mean that tomorrow any dead iPhone can be hacked? The answer is “no” because this hack first requires the iPhone to be “ jailbroken “. Inevitably, this limits the possibilities, but these researchers warn that we could witness a resurgence Pegasus level hacks which affected politicians, journalists and diplomats. By combining Pegasus and this type of malware, it would be possible to extract data from an iPhone while it is sleeping.
The general public spared?
” On recent iPhones, wireless chips can no longer be trusted to turn off after shutdown. This poses a new threat modelcan we read in the document. [Ce mode basse consommation] is a relevant attack ground that needs to be considered by important targets like journalists, or can be instrumentalized to design wireless malware running on powered off iPhones. »
Clearly, for the general public, this threat is minimal, and there is little chance that a hacker will attack your iPhone. Especially if he is not jailbroken ». On the other hand, it is a new worrying vulnerability for professionals, and undoubtedly that Apple will have to think about a mode which really cuts all the chips of the smartphone. A sort of even more evolved Airplane mode.
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