Apple Computers have been hacked again, is it an inside or outside job?

I say this because my con artist uncle works for them as a sales consultant in Silicon Valley. He gloats about not having been arrested for his financial crimes, and much of his info has been obtained by hacking computers - that he uses in his illicit activities. He has connections in China and Russia, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's part of the scheme that's sold or traded information illegally.

So for those who have iPhones, this one's for you. Your phone may have been shut down, or just hijacked to use iTunes. Those who are shutting em down are holding them hostage, demanding their owners pay a "ransom" before releasing them back to their rightful owners.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/01/technology/apple-iphone-account-hack/index.html

This only effects you if you have hacked your iPhone first and you have jail broken your phone which voids your warranty.So if you have not jail broken your iphone and taken the security features away you are fine. Sorta like complaining you house is getting broken in when you take your locks off and leave the door open.

Oh. I didn't know it was possible to hack your own cell phone.

Thanks. Why would someone want to do that?

So you can add unauthorized apps and make other tweaks that Apple doesn't like.

Thanks for sharing that.

I told my son, years ago, not to "jailbreak" his iPod, then iPhone. That I wouldn't allow it.
He was mad at me, 'cause "everybody is doing it."

I told him:

a) the jailbreak software contains code *stolen* from Apple, and we don't steal.

b) doing so meant somebody's code other than Apple's was running your system, so that somebody could get into your pod/phone anytime they wanted to, and you wouldn't even know it.

He said he'd do it anyway. I told him if he did, I'd take it away. He gave in.
The first of these hack alerts from jailbroken products came out quite a while ago. I showed it to my kid. He scoffed a bit, but never jailbroke his stuff. Now he's downright glad I insisted :)

I had no idea. Thanks for the info everyone.

Steve Jobs built Apple from code and ideas that he stole while working as a consultant for Microsoft. Microsoft stole the mouse concept and other ideas from yet other software companies. All of that code came originally from Unix, which was owned by yet another company. But then it became open source code from a grassroots community of programmers that made most of today's operating systems possible.

Rooting or jailbreaking your own phone is not stealing. It's your right. You own the phone. The manufacturers take that open-source code, tweak it a bit, call it theirs, and brand it. Underneath, it's linux. Even the stuff from Apple is a derivitive of Linux, which grew up from Unix. Most of the code came from the open-source community. If you know what you're doing you can lock it up to outsiders with secrets in the code that only you have and know about. Every kid should be encouraged to hack his own phone and learn to write code as soon as possible. If someone does hack in before he learns how to protect it, well... the hacker gets his phone directory of his other fourteen year old friends. Who cares? Just tell him to not access bank accounts from his phone until he knows what he's doing and is confident that his account information is safe.

I just rooted two of my more inexpensive phones. I am learning now how the rooting programs work, how to lock and unlock the bootloader, and how to backup and install custom ROMs. After I understand better how to protect my information, I am going to root my $600 Note 2 (only worth around $250 now). Maybe I'll brick it. Then maybe I'll get good at learning how to un-brick a phone. Eventually I'll gain enough confidence in my protective measures to trust my rooted phones to do banking. As a kid I built crystal radios and hacked programs on the TRS-80. Every kid should be encouraged to learn and explore their world. They'll grow up to become more productive adults.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2015 01:00AM by azsteve.

Thanks for this info. I did not know this either.

Today's children grow up with computers like we did pencil and paper. The better grasp they/you have of it, can only make things easier for them with all the technology.

I'm one of those ever so thankful that the developers know enough to make things "user friendly" for us old folks. I still wouldn't know where to start when it comes to hacking, including my own phones (or computers.)

My con artist uncle I alluded to in OP has his Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Berkeley. He's invented microchips to go inside computers, and has 28 patents for his inventions. He's now 75. After living through several downturns in the Silicon Valley market (it's similar to Wall Street,) at some point in time he reinvented himself into a crook who hacks computers, in order to continue living the lavish lifestyle he and my aunt are accustomed to.

Once my children and I were the only ones in my 2 million + metro community who could identify him on Crimestoppers 10 years ago, (he came here to loot our banks on a split deposit theft scheme,) I cut off all ties to him. He didn't "need" the money. He used his ill gotten gains from his heist where I live to take him and my aunt on an exotic vacation, and even bought a camera while he was committing the bank thefts where I live. He travels the world (pretending to be a computer consultant and expert witness,) while planning his next heists.

The cops knows it's him, they interviewed him in his office (not theirs,) where he lives in Silicon Valley. The same cops who have a parade in honor of my aunt's birthday each year for her contributions to their community. I believe the police turned the cheek on this one, the statute of limitations ran, and my uncle walked. The cops where I live told me he was always their only suspect. The photo ID of the video he was caught on from one of the several branches he looted while here wasn't enough to hold up in court however to get a conviction. Hence, the cops are reluctant to make an arrest when a case isn't airtight on this type of white collar crime.

Secret Service knows as do the cops my uncle was/is responsible. At the time the cops told me his heist here was just the "tip of the iceberg." And that he's been doing this for a very long time. He just hadn't been identified up to then. And now he's a sales consultant for Apple Computers in the heartland of the computer industry. At age 75, he has just sharpened his trade IMO. He's a crook and a sociopath, on the University Hall of Fame for California (for his contributions to science in his more honest days.) If I were to write a book about it I'd have to call it fiction, because that's how crazy it seems.

;)

But that claim that Steve Jobs worked for Microsoft as a consultant? My advice is go back to the LDS Church; they're constantly in need of revisionist historians.

http://www.cultofmac.com/127163/bill-gates-on-steve-jobs-we-created-the-mac-together-video/

>For me, though, the weird part is when Bill Gates says he helped create the original Mac. Maybe Gates doesn’t spend all his time ripping off other people’s ideas, but he sure seems to like ripping off posthumous credit for them.

>It’s weird wording. It can be argued that Jobs and Gates worked together popularizing the Mac, specifically thanks to Apple’s exclusive deal with Microsoft for Excel early on, but Gates and Jobs hardly “worked together, creating the Mac.”

And it's well known that Jobs essentially got the "GUI Platform" from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center just for the asking.

If I had to look at "historical parallels," I'd have to say that Bill Gates' life strongly parallels that of David Sarnoff, the long-time president of RCA, and Jobs clearly has a lot in common with Edwing Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio (add Wozniak to that picture if you need clarification).

And frankly, my view is Microsoft products have definite similarities with AM Radio, and the FM side definitely belongs to Apple.

BTW, which company is "richer" these days? Inquiring minds would like to know...

SLC



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2015 12:53PM by SL Cabbie.

azsteve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve Jobs built Apple from code and ideas that he
> stole while working as a consultant for Microsoft.

Some ideas, yes. Actual working code -- no.

> Microsoft stole the mouse concept and other ideas
> from yet other software companies.

Ideas, yes. Code, no.

> All of that
> code came originally from Unix, which was owned by
> yet another company.

Nope, no code.

> But then it became open
> source code from a grassroots community of
> programmers that made most of today's operating
> systems possible.

"Most of today's operating systems" aren't open source.

> Rooting or jailbreaking your own phone is not
> stealing.

In most cases, it is indeed. Most "jailbreak" software contains actual copyrighted working code, used unchanged, and taken and used from Apple without license. That's theft of copyrighted material. It is indeed theft.


> It's your right. You own the phone. The
> manufacturers take that open-source code, tweak it
> a bit, call it theirs, and brand it. Underneath,
> it's linux.

You have the right to do what you want to your phone. You don't have the right to use copyrighted code stolen from others on it. And it's *not* linux underneath, and while ideas from others were used, no working code was. You don't seem to have a clue about the facts here.

> Even the stuff from Apple is a
> derivitive of Linux, which grew up from Unix.

Again, not the case at all.

> Most
> of the code came from the open-source community.

Completely false.


> If you know what you're doing...

Your statements indicate you have no clue what you're doing, or understand anything about either programming, software code, or copyright law. You might want to go learn something about those topics.

Wow! Ificould.... Your statements are like the information from the church, totally made up. At any rate, you don't even need to get in to the code to root your Android phone safely. Just download "Towelroot" from the website of the same name. When you open it, it asks if you want to root your phone. You click on yes and it then tells you that your phone is rooted. Job done. For my first phone, it told me that model wasn't supported so I found another way. With the second phone, it took me less than two minutes to download and run towelroot. Just be careful what you do after your phone is rooted. Try to get all of your root programs from Google Play and avoid side-loading unless the source is trust worthy.

azsteve Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wow! Ificould.... Your statements are like the
> information from the church, totally made up. At
> any rate, you don't even need to get in to the
> code to root your Android phone safely. Just
> download "Towelroot" from the website of the same
> name. When you open it, it asks if you want to
> root your phone. You click on yes and it then
> tells you that your phone is rooted. Job done. For
> my first phone, it told me that model wasn't
> supported so I found another way. With the second
> phone, it took me less than two minutes to
> download and run towelroot. Just be careful what
> you do after your phone is rooted. Try to get all
> of your root programs from Google Play and avoid
> side-loading unless the source is trust worthy.

Android isn't Apple. Android was *designed* to be open and "rootable" from the get-go. And rooting Android is *not* the same as "jailbreaking" an Apple phone. Most of the "jailbreaking" programs you can download and run use code *stolen* (copyrighted software used illegally) from Apple.
That's not the case with Android -- the OS code is downloadable and modifiable by anyone (you just can't *sell* it without a license from google).

I have both the Apple IOS and Android dev systems on my computer right now. I've written software for both. My answers are not "made up," they're factual and correct.

Both of you are wrong. iOS and OS X and NOT derived from Linux. They are UNIX like, but are not certified as UNIX. They derived from BSD.

Second, jailbreaking is an exemption to the DCMA as per US law. See this link http://www.wired.com/2010/07/feds-ok-iphone-jailbreaking/

Third. This hack affects only those who used unofficial sites for the jailbreak. This can be avoided by only using jailbreaks confirmed by Saurik and other notable developers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking

I don't see "Athens" answering Battle-Ax's report that regular Apple phones that haven't been subjected to "jailbreaking" are affected. Common sense would suggest that the number 225,000 is actually low, compared the number of iPhones out there (I don't have one, but I'm considering one just because it's so much easier to text with one, and that's really the only "effective" way to communicate with my daughter and one of my lady friends--who, as might be surmised, has a fair number of "control issues." Cabdriver Philosophical Observation #67: Texting on a cell phone is a control freak's wet dream, seriously). Which means, of course, we've been subjected to still more drama... There doesn't seem to be any escaping it at times, unfortunately.

From what I read, "Jailbreaking" may be legal, but it strikes me as reckless, and there's an obvious sense of "narcissistic entitlement" and adolescent "immaturity" among its practitioners. What I gleaned was it is on par with the modifications made to cars back when I was young and battling those testosterone surges. You know what I mean, bigger carbs, pipes, jacked-up springs, and the lot...

Youth must be served, I guess, but I'm with Apple: if they don't want you doing it, they have a right to void your warranty. One also has the right to sue them, but my sources tell me their pockets are deeper than yours.

And seriously, they're accused of practices designed to be "anti-competitive"? Somebody needs to review the entire history of Microsoft and look at all the doggy-do Gates and Company spread around in their heyday. I think the powers-that-be at Apple learned a few things, and seriously, payback's a b***h.

As for "Azsteve's history," well, during the middle and late 80's I was managing a computer rental company and renewing a teaching certificate taking some classes microcomputers. This was in the "Apple Death Watch" days, but the instructor was a reasonable sort who let me do my homework on my old Mac IIci.

I joined the "One True Church of the One-Button Mouse" (developed as a said at PARC, the Palo Alta Research Center), and I've never regretted it.

Anyway, a Cabbie question for Battle-Ax... Are you the sharp guy--with the really cute wife--who sometimes shows up at Exmormon get togethers south of here? We need to hook up again if that's the case... I understand others have used that moniker in the past, however.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2015 01:52AM by SL Cabbie.

This sounds like a variation (or maybe the same one) of the Hacking Team exploit that was revealed a few months ago, when Hacking Team themselves got hacked.


Even with this exploit, Android is much more vulnerable. About 1/3 of Android phones are coming from the manufacturer with malware already installed. Mostly spyware and adware. Apple's closed garden (from chip factory to Apple store control) prevents a lot of this.

After you root your phone, you can side-load AdAway (be careful where you get it, only trust the original source). Google play won't host it because none of your apps nor your web browser will ever get an ad again after you turn it on (messes with their business model). You'll be safer. After that, by the time you're done locking the phone up with root privileges with programs from the Google play store, no one (including your wireless carrier) will have access to anything that you didn't explicitly approve of. Those who would trade their liberty for safety deserve neither.

Amyjo, you seem inordinately impressed with your uncle's skills. He sounds like a pathological bullshitter of the highest order to me. I wouldn't take a word he said about anything at face value.

Your ability to articulate with this one leaves me dumbfounded in admiration.

Have you considered cabdriving as a "retirement hobby?" :-)

No, I'm not impressed BoJ.

What I am is distressed because he was like a grandfather figure to my children.

He plastered them with gifts all the years they were growing up.

He and my aunt would take them on expensive trips and lavish them with things I couldn't afford.

All that time I believed he got his money by legitimate means.

It wasn't until my children and I identified him on our local Crimestoppers, that all came to a screeching end. I severed ties with my aunt and uncle, and my children did too for the most part.

My kids were resentful afterwards that I did that. What else could I have done?

I work in law enforcement. To continue on with a uncle/niece relationship like we'd had before had become impossible. So I had to cut him off.

Families of con artists have a tendency to live in denial. I wasn't going to do that. I also wasn't going to let him back in my favor until he came clean. Which he still hasn't done to this day.

Talking about his accomplishments is to point out that the hackers are not necessarily undereducated and of low esteem. My uncle is a sociopath, which fits the profile of the computer hackers of today. Very accomplished in their professional lives, and yet still use their training and levels of expertise to be ripping all of us off.

His working at Apple Computers as a sales consultant where it all began in the heart of Silicon Valley, shows how high the levels of corruption go in the professional hacking world. Because he is a bullshit artist, as an accomplished engineer, he's still "out there" doing his tricks. And he still sells his "services" as a computer consultant and expert witness for patent infringement lawsuits and legal cases involving computers.

You could know my uncle for years and not know he's a con artist. He could be your next door neighbor and you'd believe you hit the jackpot with neighbors.

He's managed to support himself for many years in this manner, according to my local police. If not for my identifying him, they still wouldn't know who he is to this day. They told me his heist where I live is just the tip of the iceberg.

And yet probably because of the cops relationship with my also very accomplished aunt, the cops where they live let him off. Add to that the photo ID of his video footage in the bank (the only branch of eight he targeted even had any footage on him, it took the banks two whole weeks to learn they'd been robbed,) isn't enough to get a conviction in court. And that was all the evidence the cops could produce on him.

He is/was that good, in other words, that he got away with it, if not for being identified.

As I stated previously, publicity is a con artist's worst nightmare, next to getting arrested. He's been very cocky since then, because he wasn't arrested. He thought he got off with the perfect crime.

Until several months ago when he and I duked it out on one of my children's Facebook page, while that child slept on the other side of the world. My uncle and I got into a pissing match.

And then I sent my aunt a message telling her for the seventh time or more, to remind my uncle to have no contact with my children. I told them ten years ago, and I told them again. This time I added to her that he still is the *only* suspect where we live. He always was.

She was deceived by him into believing he wasn't. And I told her the only reason he wasn't arrested was because of the photo ID not being enough to hold up in court on its own. But that the cops still know he was their guy. It was that missive to my aunt that seemed to sink in, after all these years, to stay the hell away from my children.

He will never apologize or come clean. So I'm done with him.

He was a very accomplished person, and so is my aunt. Yet this is the legacy he will leave, over the other contributions he made to society. He became, and still is, a pariah.

My aunt became one too apparently. Money and greed became more important to them over common sense and being law abiding.