The story has begun days ago. As a result, she had to add Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), a new page in its knowledge base, trying to explain the inexplicable. The inexplicables came to light when security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski presented some undeclared services he uncovered in operating system the company's. It was presented at the Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE X) conference in New York.
Apple's documentation states that the tools presented by the expert have diagnostic purposes and require matching with a trusted device.
However, the findings of Zdziarski (PDF) deny this type of use, and one of the reasons is that the service is enabled by default for all devices and runs without the owner knowing anything.
Apple, for its part, says "com.apple.mobile.pcapd," is a tool for tracking network traffic on your iOS device, and that it is useful for troubleshooting and diagnosing problems caused by applications on the device as well as VPN connections. ”
Στην παρουσίασή του, ο Zdziarski αναφέρει ότι το εργαλείο μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί μέσω απομακρυσμένης σύνδεσης WiFi για παρακολούθηση κάτι το οποίο, όπως αναφέρει, μπορεί να επιτευχθεί εύκολα, χωρίς τη συγκατάθεση του ιδιοκτήτη, και χωρίς να υπάρχει καμία ένδειξη ότι ο packet sniffer runs and leaks information.
"Com.apple.mobile.file_relay," and remote access, is presented by Zdziarski as a complete tool for eavesdropping on users' personal information, even bypassing backup encryption.
It provides access to the address and contact file, photos, voicemail, audio data, keystrokes, drafts, accounts (Twitter, iCloud, Facebook, etc.), device settings, and GPS logs. Another function creates a meta discdata about device files.
Apple's documentation of the service states that "Apple's technique uses file_relay on internal devices to select customer configurations. AppleCare, with the user's consent, may use this tool to collect relevant diagnostic data from users' devices. ”
But the researcher claims that "mobile.file_relay" has access to information that is not necessary to diagnose a device and of course should not be available to Apple technicians.
Revealing all of this, Zdziarski does not blame Apple for cooperating with government agencies, although it has not received a response regarding their purpose when it came into contact with the company's last two CEOs.
But although the security points he has discovered can also have legitimate uses, details that can make and share the device very personal, and points out that government officials could well benefit from the functionality of these tools for espionage.
"I admit to Apple that it recognized and did not deny the services, and at least tried to give an answer to those who want to know why the services exist. Prior to that, there was no documentation for file relay, and 44 other data services that copied personal information. "
“Apple's bulletin doesn't seem to be misleading about the processes, however, it does seem to downplay them, and that's something that worries me. I wonder if Apple's top executives are really aware of how much information is being copied and sent except device is private information, does not aid in diagnosis, and travels out wirelessly, bypassing backup encryption.” See all the post.
What do you say? After Snowden's revelations to whom can we have confidence? On Apple's cognitive base trying to tell us they are intact and do not share information with governments, or the researcher?
