A smartphone that is turned off is not turned off - we know it from movies where the batteries are removed from the smartphone and the devices are placed in a refrigerator or microwave.
Security researchers from Darmstadt have just proven in an experiment that they can run malware on a smartphone that is disabled.
Security researchers Jiska Classen, Robert Reith, Alexander Heinrich and Matthias Hollick from the 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). The Results of the research 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 when the iPhone is turned off. So a device owner can locate a disabled iPhone, for example, using the “Find Network” feature. If the battery charge runs out, iPhone automatically turns off, and switches to power saving mode energy internally, so it doesn't turn off completely even then.
Users still have access to data from credit cards, student IDs and other information stored in the wallet (digital 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 standalone features, 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 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!