Apple: Jailbroken iPhones enable ‘catastrophic’ network attacks

In a new comment filing with the U.S. Copyright Office and published by Wired, Apple claims that hackers, wielding jailbroken iPhones could cause “potentially catastrophic” results. Apple explains that the iPhone’s operating system — which is modified during the jailbreak process — controls the device’s baseband processor (BBP), which in turn controls the phone’s connection to the cellular provider’s network. The company argues that changes made to the BBP could result in inoperable phones, anonymous communications via a changed Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number — which “would be desirable to drug dealers” — and could also be used to facilitate an attack on the cellular network, crashing tower software, and possibly more. “In short, taking control of the BBP software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer – to potentially catastrophic result,” Apple claims. The company’s comments are part of an ongoing battle with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which proposed a new exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which would explicitly allow jailbreaking of iPhones.