It is said that a switched off device cannot be hacked. The security of the iPhone is also widely praised in the tech world. News has now come out that both of these things are false.
Hackers can also hack a switched off iPhone, say researchers at the Secure Mobile Networking Lab at the University of Darmstadt in Germany. One of the papers he published described the method of hacking a locked iPhone.
Even turning off the iPhone is not safe
According to Kaspersky's blog, university researchers have introduced capable malware that runs completely independently of iOS. To this end, they examined the operation of the wireless module and found a way to analyze the Bluetooth firmware. Accordingly, Apple's Find My service is helping to hack off iPhone.
Find My Device service in 2021 helps find lost iPhone. Which is available in all Apple smartphones after iPhone 11. So when switched off, the iPhone goes into low power mode without being turned off completely. This mode continues with a select few modules, including Bluetooth, Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless module, and NFC.
Researchers tested the Find My service in low power mode. From this they realized that a large amount of work was being controlled by the Bluetooth module, which was started through the iOS command. The iPhone also sends data packets from time to time, allowing other devices to detect the locked iPhone.
Notably, the firmware of the Bluetooth module is not encrypted and does not provide Secure Boot technology. Firmware errors can be detected due to lack of encryption. Which can be used by cyber criminals to carry out attacks. Also the lack of Secure Boot allows hackers to completely change the phone code with the help of the device's Bluetooth module.
