A smartphone that is disabled is not disabled – we know this from movies where the batteries from smartphones and devices are placed in a refrigerator or microwave oven.
Security researchers from Darmstadt have just proven with an experiment that they can run malware on a smartphone that is turned off.
The researchers ασφαλείας Jiska Classen, Robert Reith, Alexander Heinrich και Matthias Hollick από το Secure Mobile Networking Lab στο TU Darmstadt περιέγραψαν το όλο θέμα σε ένα έγγραφο 11 σελίδων με τίτλο Evil Never Sleeps: When Wireless Malware Stays On After Turning Off iPhone ( PDF). Τα αποτελέσματα της researchs will be presented this week at WiSec 2022 (ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks).
In their work, the security researchers took advantage of the fact that most radio chips (for Bluetooth, NFC or WLAN) remain enabled and continue to be powered by the battery όταν το iPhone είναι απενεργοποιημένο. Έτσι ένας κάτοχος συσκευής μπορεί να εντοπίσει ένα απενεργοποιημένο iPhone, για παράδειγμα, χρησιμοποιώντας τη λειτουργία “Εύρεση δικτύου”. Εάν η φόρτιση της μπαταρίας εξαντληθεί, το iPhone απενεργοποιείται αυτόματα, και αλλάζει σε λειτουργία εξοικονόμησης energy internally, so it doesn't turn off completely even then.
Οι χρήστες εξακολουθούν να έχουν πρόσβαση σε δεδομένα από πιστωτικές κάρτες, φοιτητικές ταυτότητες και άλλες πληροφορίες που είναι αποθηκευμένες στο wallet (ψηφιακό wallet) on the iPhone with the security chip (Secure Enclave Processor).
The team at TU Darmstadt's Mobile Networking Lab analyzed how Apple implements these autonomous functions, which provide wireless access to the digital wallet and work even when iOS is not running. Research shows that on current iPhones, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Ultra Wideband (UWB) continue to work even after the device is turned off.
On the other hand, all three of the aforementioned wireless chips have direct access to the security chip where digital wallet data is stored. In its document, the team indicates that there is a way to load malware onto an iPhone Bluetooth chip. Malware can run even when the iPhone is turned off.
Details can be found in the PDF Evil Never Sleeps: When Wireless Malware Stays On After Turning Off iPhone.
Cool!