Jailbreak (iPhone OS)

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An iPhone 3G running a jailbroken iPhone OS 3.0 with a custom theme and 5 icon dock, with an after market protective case.

An iPod touch running a jailbroken iPhone OS 3.0 with a custom theme and 5 icon dock.

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to run unofficial code on their devices bypassing Apple's official distribution mechanism, the App Store. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia, Rock App, Icy, and Installer. Cydia is preferred by the community, while Rock App has a small catalog of mainly paid apps. Icy and Installer are officially unsupported by their developers and rarely used. Cydia founder Jay Freeman estimates that 4 million (out of 40 million) iPods and iPhones are jailbroken.^[1] A jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use and update apps downloaded and purchased from Apple's official App Store.

Jailbreaking is distinct from SIM unlocking, which is the process by which a mobile device is made compatible with telephone networks with which it was not specifically licensed to be used. Jailbreaking, while not illegal, gives a user the option to install cracked (pirated,) apps, which is illegal. Jailbreaking voids Apple's warranty on the device.

[edit] History

The first jailbreaking method was released on July 10, 2007, which initially was meant to provide a way to use custom ringtones.^[2] On August 6, 2007 the first third-party game was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.^[3]

On October 10, 2007, about 3 months after the original iPhone was released, another method to jailbreak the iPhone was discovered.^[4] Apple and hackers then engaged in a cat-and-mouse game to patch up security holes and to exploit them. Hackers eventually released a tool to permanently jailbreak iPhone OS 1.0.

Upon the release of iPhone OS 2.0, a hacker group called the iPhone Dev Team released a jailbreaking application named PwnageTool that used a graphical user interface.^[5]

In January 2009, the iPhone Dev Team commenced work on jailbreaking the iPod Touch 2G.^[6] "redsn0w lite" was the code name for a tethered iPod Touch 2G jailbreak, and in April, redsn0w 0.1 was released.^[7]

On March 10, 2009, the untethered jailbreak was released for the iPod Touch 2G utilizing an exploit found by the Chronic Dev Team, and developed with the help of iPhone Dev Team member "planetbeing". It was released as a rough patch, and was not implemented into a GUI until next month, when planetbeing made "redsn0w" based on QuickPwn sources.

On March 17, 2009, Apple announced the release of iPhone OS 3.0.^[8] Three months later, the iPhone Dev Team released PwnageTool 3.0 and redsn0w 0.7.2, which allowed users of the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch running the OS 3.0 to be jailbroken on both Macs and PCs.^[9]

On September 9, 2009, Apple released iPhone OS 3.1, again disabling the ability to jailbreak the device. Once again the dev team released a jailbreak for all devices (except for the iPod Touch 3rd Generation), called Pwnage Tool 3.1-3.^[10]

On October 11, 2009, George Hotz, known under alias ""geohot"", released the tool ""blackra1n"", which allows the jailbreaking of all iPhones and iPod touch devices running iPhone OS 3.1.2 (although the iPod touch 3rd generation is tethered - it must be plugged into a computer every time it boots).

On November 2, 2009 Hotz released a newer version of blackra1n "RC3", an update that was able to jailbreak the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. This included the most recently-manufactured devices that featured an updated boot ROM in which Apple had closed the "24kpwn" loophole exploited by previous jailbreaks. Hotz also released "blacksn0w" an unlocking application for the iPhone which was capable of unlocking the newest baseband version, "5.11.07".

Greenpois0n, a jailbreak program not unlike PwnageTool is currently in development, but is being held back so that Apple can't patch the exploit used before the 4th generation iPhone. Greenpois0n uses a type of jailbreak said to be different in kind from any earlier program, which would thus be effective for some time before Apple manages to patch up the exploit.

[edit] Firmware

[edit] Devices

[edit] Software used

[edit] Old (2.0 - 2.2.1)

[edit] Current (3.0 - current)

[edit] Viruses/Worms

In early November 2009, the first iPhone worm (incorrectly called a "virus" by some popular media) appeared, created by Ashley Towns, a 21 year old Australian technical college student from Wollongong south of Sydney, New South Wales. He told an Australian media outlet that he created the worm to raise the issue of security.^[23] "When people jailbreak their phone, it allows them to install a service on their phone called SSH.... Generally you should always change your password after setting up on the iPhone as all iPhones use the same password. This worm pretty much exploits people's laziness to change their password," adding that "... it basically only changes their wallpaper to Rick Astley," (this can be seen as an instance of Rickrolling).

On Nov. 22, 2009, F-Secure reported that a new malicious worm could compromise bank transactions, but so far only affecting users with jail-broken phones in the Netherlands. ^[24][25]

[edit] iPhone Dev Team

The iPhone Dev Team is a group of hackers in the iPhone OS community who have developed many hacking (jailbreaking) and unlocking applications for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPod Touch devices. These applications provide owners with the ability to sidestep the limitations placed on devices by the manufacturer, allowing for activities such as deep customization and SIM unlocking.

[edit] See also

• Cydia
• Icy
• iPhone Dev Team

[edit] External links

• The iPhone Wiki
• Hack that Phone - multi-language tutorials
• iHackMyi
• iFone Hacks jailbreak/unlock tutorials
• iMod Central jailbreak tutorials and iPhone hacks
• Everything of the Art of Jailbreaking and Jailbroken iPod Touches and iPhones

[edit] References