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{{Infobox Person
| image = George Hotz.jpg
| image_size = 150px
| name = George Hotz
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1989|10|2}}
| birth_place = United States
| alma_mater = [[Bergen County Academies]]
}}
'''George Francis Hotz''' (born October 2, 1989), alias '''geohot''', '''million75''' or simply '''mil''' is a [[hacker (computer security)|hacker]] famous for unlocking the [[iPhone]] allowing the phone to be used with other [[wireless carrier]]s, contrary to [[AT&T]] and Apple's intent.<ref>
{{cite news | last = Stone | first = Brad | coauthor = John Biggs | title = With Software and Soldering, AT&T's Lock on iPhone Is Undone |work = New York Times |page = C-1| url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00717FD3A580C768EDDA10894DF404482 | date = August 25, 2007 | accessdate = 2007-09-02}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Interview with 17 year old iPhone hacker | publisher = CNBC | date = September 30, 2007 | url = http://www.webcastr.com/videos/science_technology/interview-with-17-year-old-iphone-hacker.html}}</ref> He also hacked the [[PlayStation 3]] and released an exploit.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/27/playstation_exploit_released/ |title=Prolific hacker releases PlayStation exploit |publisher=[[The Register]] |date=January 27, 2010 |accessdate=January 29, 2010}}</ref>

==Unlocking the Apple iPhone==
Hotz, who had bought his first iPhone on its launch date, was originally associated with the ''[[iPhone Dev Team|iPhone Dev]]'' unlocking team, but was later banned from the team.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080531014506/http://lpahome.com/r.htm ~geohot's unlocking manifesto] Accessed May 3, 2008.</ref>
He estimates that he spent more than 500 hours working on the unlock. He said his primary aim was to enable other users to easily unlock their own iPhones.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}}

According to his blog, Hotz traded his unlocked 8GB iPhone to Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell, for a [[Nissan 350Z]] car and three 8GB iPhones.<ref name="iphonetrade">[http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2007/08/iphone-has-been-traded.html On the iPhone: THE iPhone HAS BEEN TRADED], Accessed May 3, 2008.
</ref> Hotz said he wanted to give the iPhones to the other members of the team who created the hack with him.<ref>[http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2007/08/postmortem.html On the iPhone: Postmortem] Accessed August 3, 2009</ref> Hotz's hardware based unlocking technique has largely been replaced by software unlocking that does not require dis-assembly of the iPhone.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/01/apple.iphone/index.html Code to unlock iPhone cracked] Accessed October 11, 2007.</ref>

George Hotz recently developed the first software unlock for the iPhone's new Bootloader Version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock".<ref>[http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2008/02/11246unlock-good-enough-for-prize.html On the iPhone: 11246unlock, good enough for the prize<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

George gave the iPhone Dev Team an exploit he found in the at+stkprof command that they used as an injection vector for their yellowsn0w payload, which resulted in the first software, iPhone 3G unlock. In the sourcecode for YellowSn0w, the 3G unlock daemon, it reads "thanks geohot for at+stkprof 02.28 injection vector".

On July 3, 2009, Hotz announced purplera1n, the first public software exploit for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS. Details were posted on his blog.<ref>http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/</ref>

On October 11, 2009, at 3:33AM Hotz released [[blackra1n]], a jailbreak for all iPhones and iPod Touches (except for the iPod Touch 3G 8GB model). The only caveat was that the iPod Touch 3G would need a "tethered jailbreak" to work. The hashtag, #[[blackra1n]] was the number one Trend on [[Twitter]] for a few minutes by request from GeoHot,<ref>http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackra1n.html</ref> occasionally losing to a non-existing fake jailbreak under the name [[AppuloHa1l]], released on '#[[ha1lday]]', October 11. AppuloHa1l however was a [[RickRoll]].

On October 25, 2009 Hotz released Blackra1n RC2 an update to his previous blackra1n utility, This version allows MC Model users to jailbreak their iPod touches as well.<ref>http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackra1n-is-live.html</ref>

On October 31, 2009 Hotz announced the impending release of Blacksn0w RC3, this version will allow SIM unlock of all iPhones.<ref>http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/11/information-campaign.html</ref> Blacksn0w was originally scheduled for release on November 4, 2009, but due to positive test results it was moved to the 3rd. Blacksn0w was the #1 trending topic on Twitter as requested by GeoHot only moments after its release.

==Hacking the PlayStation 3==
In the end of 2009 Hotz announced his efforts to hack the [[Sony]] [[PlayStation 3]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2009/12/real-challenge.html |title=A Real Challenge |publisher=George Hotz |date=December 26, 2009 |accessdate=January 25, 2010}}</ref> At that time, the console remained the only fully locked system of the [[History of video game consoles (seventh generation)|seventh generation era]] and was widely regarded being very secure and almost unhackable. Hotz opened a blog to document his progress and five weeks later, on January 22, 2010, announced that he had successfully hacked the system saying: "Hello [[hypervisor]], I'm geohot".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geohotps3.blogspot.com |title=On The PlayStation 3 |publisher=George Hotz}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/01/hello-hypervisor-im-geohot.html |title=Hello hypervisor, I'm geohot |publisher=George Hotz |date=January 22, 2010 |accessdate=January 25, 2010}}</ref> Hotz claimed that he achieved "read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor". Hotz also detailed that his work could allow [[homebrew]], [[PS2]] [[emulation]] and the capability to run [[Copyright infringement|pirated]] PS3 games and game backups.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8478764.stm |title=PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=January 25, 2010 |accessdate=January 25, 2010}}</ref>

On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the [[exploit]] to the public. It requires the [[Linux on the PlayStation 3|Other OS]] function of the PS3 and consists of patching the [[Linux kernel]] and gaining control of the [[hypervisor]] with the help of an [[FPGA]] using a unique solder point.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/01/heres-your-silver-platter.html |title=Here your silver platter |publisher=George Hotz |date=January 26, 2010 |accessdate=January 27, 2010}}</ref> Hotz declared that "Sony may have difficulty [[patch]]ing the exploit". As of February 21st, Sony has yet to release a patch addressing this issue.<ref name="BBC News"/>

==Other accomplishments and recognition==
Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler".<ref>[http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/photos/isef_2005_photos.htm ISEF site listing finalists]</ref> Continuing with robots, Hotz competed in his school's highly successful Titanium Knights battlebots team. George also worked on his project, "Neuropilot," in which he was able to read EEG signals off his head with hardware from the OpenEEG project.

Hotz competed in the 2007 [[Intel International Science and Engineering Fair]], a science competition for high school students, where his project, entitled "I want a [[Holodeck]]," received awards and prizes in several categories.<ref>[http://www.societyforscience.org/Document.Doc?id=80 Grand Awards Ceremony of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007]. Intel Education. Accessed August 24, 2007.
</ref>
Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the [[Today (NBC program)|Today Show]], [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]], [[CNN]], [[NBC]], [[CBS]], [[G4 (TV channel)|G4]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbRKA5OmtHQ YouTube - Teen 'Unlocks' iPhone From AT&T Network<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> [[CNBC]],<ref>[http://www.breitbart.tv/html/4823.html Breitbart.tv » iPhone Hacker Explains How He Did It<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including [[Forbes]],<ref>[http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0723/060.html Junior R&D - Forbes.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and [[BBC]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8478764.stm|title=PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker|work=BBC News|last=Fildes|first=Jonathan|accessdate=2009-01-25|date=January 25, 2010}}</ref>

The Forbes article said Hotz hopes to go into neuroscience: "hacking the brain," he called it. In March 2008, PC World magazine listed George as one of the top 10 Overachievers under 21.<ref>[http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,143201-page,10-c,techindustrytrends/article.html PC World - Meet the Whiz Kids: 10 Overachievers Under 21<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In December 2007, Hotz travelled to Sweden to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar and talk about his 3-D imaging invention (called Project Holodeck) that netted him a $20,000 Intel prize earlier that year.<ref>[http://www.fuf.org/swe/verksamhet/siyss/participants SIYSS Participants List]</ref>

==Controversy==
On July 12, 2008, Hotz posted on his blog that he had obtained a copy of the [[iPhone Dev Team]]'s unreleased hack for the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Hotz created a website, www.yiphone.org.<ref>[http://www.yiphone.org yiPhone Website]</ref> It was widely accepted that should the Dev Team fail to release their hack by the time the counter hit 0 that Hotz would release his exploit under the name of yiPhone. The Dev Team responded to the threat and created the site www.ihazsupper.com.<ref>[http://www.ihazsupper.com Dev Team Spoof yiPhone Website]</ref>

The website was a spoof rework of [[The last supper]] that targets Hotz and Kroo who are identified by Google sweaters and with the distinct lack of a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] that are adorned by the rest of the other characters in the image, Hotz takes the place of [[Judas Iscariot]] and the character of Kroo was made to lay in the lap of [[Steve Wozniak]], these being obvious references to the leaked software and underhandedness of the subject matter.

Hotz later claimed that yiPhone itself was a spoof of the controversial unlock/jailbreak utility, ZiPhone and was Hotz's commentary on the claim that the author of Ziphone was using stolen code and soliciting large amounts of money. Hotz, in a statement on his blog stated that he "[has] never done the jailbreaks for any previous versions of the phone..."<ref>[http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2008/07/yiphone-and-otherwise.html On the iPhone: yiPhone and otherwise<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Personal life==
Hotz grew up in [[Glen Rock, New Jersey|Glen Rock]], [[New Jersey]], where he attended the [[Bergen County Academies]], a [[Magnet school|magnet]] [[public high school]]. He has one sister, Julia Hotz, alias "Fifty". <ref>
McKay, Martha. [http://web.archive.org/web/20071014041013/http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk4NDgmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxODU2MTMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz "Tech whiz cracks code tying it to AT&T network"], ''[[The Record (Bergen County)]]'', August 24, 2007. Accessed August 27, 2007. "The 17-year-old Glen Rock resident posted the complicated steps on his blog Thursday.... 'I've lived and breathed that phone for the last two months,' said Hotz, a Bergen County Academies grad who won a prestigious $20,000 Intel science fair prize this year for a device that projects a 3-D image. His father is currently a teacher at girls only school IHA. (Immaculate Heart Academy)
</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{wikinews|Telephone network access on iPhone unlocked by teen}}
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g23e9e9zOVI The New Video of Unlock (blacksn0w)]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvJ1RGlxe8Q YouTube Video of Hotz's Unlocked iPhone]
* [http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/ Hotz's blog]
* [http://twitter.com/geohot/ Hotz's Twitter]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080208175647/http://lpahome.com/ Hotz's Website] (through Internet Archive)
* [http://www.technologymadness.com/?p=299 NJ teen unlocks iPhone + YouTube Video]
* [http://www.iphone-hacks.com/2007/08/page/2/ GeoHot's guide to iPhone unlocking]
* [http://www.hackyouriphone.org/home/search.html?searchword=geohot GeoHot HYI Search]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotz, George}}
[[Category:1989 births]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Rochester Institute of Technology]]
[[Category:IPhone]]
[[Category:American Internet personalities]]

[[de:George Hotz]]
[[fr:George Hotz]]
[[sv:George Hotz]]
[[zh:乔治·霍兹]]

Revision as of 16:20, 22 February 2010

George Hotz
Born (1989-10-02) October 2, 1989 (age 34)
United States
Alma materBergen County Academies

George Francis Hotz (born October 2, 1989), alias geohot, million75 or simply mil is a hacker famous for unlocking the iPhone allowing the phone to be used with other wireless carriers, contrary to AT&T and Apple's intent.[1][2] He also hacked the PlayStation 3 and released an exploit.[3]

Unlocking the Apple iPhone

Hotz, who had bought his first iPhone on its launch date, was originally associated with the iPhone Dev unlocking team, but was later banned from the team.[4] He estimates that he spent more than 500 hours working on the unlock. He said his primary aim was to enable other users to easily unlock their own iPhones.[citation needed]

According to his blog, Hotz traded his unlocked 8GB iPhone to Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell, for a Nissan 350Z car and three 8GB iPhones.[5] Hotz said he wanted to give the iPhones to the other members of the team who created the hack with him.[6] Hotz's hardware based unlocking technique has largely been replaced by software unlocking that does not require dis-assembly of the iPhone.[7]

George Hotz recently developed the first software unlock for the iPhone's new Bootloader Version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock".[8]

George gave the iPhone Dev Team an exploit he found in the at+stkprof command that they used as an injection vector for their yellowsn0w payload, which resulted in the first software, iPhone 3G unlock. In the sourcecode for YellowSn0w, the 3G unlock daemon, it reads "thanks geohot for at+stkprof 02.28 injection vector".

On July 3, 2009, Hotz announced purplera1n, the first public software exploit for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS. Details were posted on his blog.[9]

On October 11, 2009, at 3:33AM Hotz released blackra1n, a jailbreak for all iPhones and iPod Touches (except for the iPod Touch 3G 8GB model). The only caveat was that the iPod Touch 3G would need a "tethered jailbreak" to work. The hashtag, #blackra1n was the number one Trend on Twitter for a few minutes by request from GeoHot,[10] occasionally losing to a non-existing fake jailbreak under the name AppuloHa1l, released on '#ha1lday', October 11. AppuloHa1l however was a RickRoll.

On October 25, 2009 Hotz released Blackra1n RC2 an update to his previous blackra1n utility, This version allows MC Model users to jailbreak their iPod touches as well.[11]

On October 31, 2009 Hotz announced the impending release of Blacksn0w RC3, this version will allow SIM unlock of all iPhones.[12] Blacksn0w was originally scheduled for release on November 4, 2009, but due to positive test results it was moved to the 3rd. Blacksn0w was the #1 trending topic on Twitter as requested by GeoHot only moments after its release.

Hacking the PlayStation 3

In the end of 2009 Hotz announced his efforts to hack the Sony PlayStation 3.[13] At that time, the console remained the only fully locked system of the seventh generation era and was widely regarded being very secure and almost unhackable. Hotz opened a blog to document his progress and five weeks later, on January 22, 2010, announced that he had successfully hacked the system saying: "Hello hypervisor, I'm geohot".[14][15] Hotz claimed that he achieved "read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor". Hotz also detailed that his work could allow homebrew, PS2 emulation and the capability to run pirated PS3 games and game backups.[16]

On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit to the public. It requires the Other OS function of the PS3 and consists of patching the Linux kernel and gaining control of the hypervisor with the help of an FPGA using a unique solder point.[17] Hotz declared that "Sony may have difficulty patching the exploit". As of February 21st, Sony has yet to release a patch addressing this issue.[16]

Other accomplishments and recognition

Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler".[18] Continuing with robots, Hotz competed in his school's highly successful Titanium Knights battlebots team. George also worked on his project, "Neuropilot," in which he was able to read EEG signals off his head with hardware from the OpenEEG project.

Hotz competed in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a science competition for high school students, where his project, entitled "I want a Holodeck," received awards and prizes in several categories.[19] Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the Today Show, Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS, G4, ABC[20] CNBC,[21] and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Forbes,[22] and BBC.[23]

The Forbes article said Hotz hopes to go into neuroscience: "hacking the brain," he called it. In March 2008, PC World magazine listed George as one of the top 10 Overachievers under 21.[24]

In December 2007, Hotz travelled to Sweden to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar and talk about his 3-D imaging invention (called Project Holodeck) that netted him a $20,000 Intel prize earlier that year.[25]

Controversy

On July 12, 2008, Hotz posted on his blog that he had obtained a copy of the iPhone Dev Team's unreleased hack for the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Hotz created a website, www.yiphone.org.[26] It was widely accepted that should the Dev Team fail to release their hack by the time the counter hit 0 that Hotz would release his exploit under the name of yiPhone. The Dev Team responded to the threat and created the site www.ihazsupper.com.[27]

The website was a spoof rework of The last supper that targets Hotz and Kroo who are identified by Google sweaters and with the distinct lack of a halo that are adorned by the rest of the other characters in the image, Hotz takes the place of Judas Iscariot and the character of Kroo was made to lay in the lap of Steve Wozniak, these being obvious references to the leaked software and underhandedness of the subject matter.

Hotz later claimed that yiPhone itself was a spoof of the controversial unlock/jailbreak utility, ZiPhone and was Hotz's commentary on the claim that the author of Ziphone was using stolen code and soliciting large amounts of money. Hotz, in a statement on his blog stated that he "[has] never done the jailbreaks for any previous versions of the phone..."[28]

Personal life

Hotz grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, where he attended the Bergen County Academies, a magnet public high school. He has one sister, Julia Hotz, alias "Fifty". [29]

References

  1. ^ Stone, Brad (August 25, 2007). "With Software and Soldering, AT&T's Lock on iPhone Is Undone". New York Times. p. C-1. Retrieved 2007-09-02. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Interview with 17 year old iPhone hacker". CNBC. September 30, 2007.
  3. ^ "Prolific hacker releases PlayStation exploit". The Register. January 27, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2010.
  4. ^ ~geohot's unlocking manifesto Accessed May 3, 2008.
  5. ^ On the iPhone: THE iPhone HAS BEEN TRADED, Accessed May 3, 2008.
  6. ^ On the iPhone: Postmortem Accessed August 3, 2009
  7. ^ Code to unlock iPhone cracked Accessed October 11, 2007.
  8. ^ On the iPhone: 11246unlock, good enough for the prize
  9. ^ http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/
  10. ^ http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackra1n.html
  11. ^ http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/10/blackra1n-is-live.html
  12. ^ http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/11/information-campaign.html
  13. ^ "A Real Challenge". George Hotz. December 26, 2009. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  14. ^ "On The PlayStation 3". George Hotz.
  15. ^ "Hello hypervisor, I'm geohot". George Hotz. January 22, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  16. ^ a b "PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker". BBC News. January 25, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  17. ^ "Here your silver platter". George Hotz. January 26, 2010. Retrieved January 27, 2010.
  18. ^ ISEF site listing finalists
  19. ^ Grand Awards Ceremony of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007. Intel Education. Accessed August 24, 2007.
  20. ^ YouTube - Teen 'Unlocks' iPhone From AT&T Network
  21. ^ Breitbart.tv » iPhone Hacker Explains How He Did It
  22. ^ Junior R&D - Forbes.com
  23. ^ Fildes, Jonathan (January 25, 2010). "PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  24. ^ PC World - Meet the Whiz Kids: 10 Overachievers Under 21
  25. ^ SIYSS Participants List
  26. ^ yiPhone Website
  27. ^ Dev Team Spoof yiPhone Website
  28. ^ On the iPhone: yiPhone and otherwise
  29. ^ McKay, Martha. "Tech whiz cracks code tying it to AT&T network", The Record (Bergen County), August 24, 2007. Accessed August 27, 2007. "The 17-year-old Glen Rock resident posted the complicated steps on his blog Thursday.... 'I've lived and breathed that phone for the last two months,' said Hotz, a Bergen County Academies grad who won a prestigious $20,000 Intel science fair prize this year for a device that projects a 3-D image. His father is currently a teacher at girls only school IHA. (Immaculate Heart Academy)

External links

Wikinews has related news:
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