Unbrick My Heart

Have you fell in love with you iPhone? I bet you have. Was your heart bricked after updating the firmware to 1.1.1.? Positive again. Don't worry. The help is on the way to unbrick your heart.

But the news is not as good as you might be expecting. The hack does really unbrick your iPhone and get the 3rd party application back in game, however, unlocked phones still can't call.

Basically, the process of unbricking your iPhone is to downgrade the firmware from version 1.1.1 to 1.0.2. Well, if you have ever had PSP then you might know this process. The same has started for iPhone.

Detailed instructions and video can be seen on Gizmodo.

I believe hackers are working hard to get dialing function back as well. After all iPhone is a phone, isn't it?

Bluetooth - The Weakest Link

Security researchers attention goes to the Bluetooth bug in iPhone. On Friday, Symantec's DeepSight threat network team pointed out the vulnerability in an advisory to customers.

According to the security team, the Bluetooth flaw occurs when malicious SDP (Service Discovery Protocol) packets are handled. Thus, any attacker within Bluetooth range can exploit the vulnerability remotely and execute arbitrary code on the device.

In order to exploit the iPhone Bluetooth vulnerability, the Bluetooth MAC must be known. However, with iPhone this is extremely easy. The iPhone Bluetooth MAC address is always one less than the Wi-Fi interface's MAC address. So, a standard WiFi sniffer does the job here.

According to Apple's security advisory, the Bluetooth vulnerability was discovered and reported by Kevin Mahaffey and John Hering of Flexillis Inc., a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in mobile security development and consulting.

Most people do not consider Bluetooth vulnerabilities seriously. This can be attributed to the belief that Bluetooth is not a long-range wireless technology. However, possible working range of Bluetooth is far longer than most people believe. With specialized antennas it is possible to achieve 200-300 meters, sometimes even more.

Come on, Brick My iPhone

Apple has just released promised firmware update 1.1.1. and the company has also kept the promise about fighting hacked iPhones. Indeed, the update bricks the phone in many cases. If you are lucky enough and your wonder device survives, you have good chance of losing your photos, music and contacts. Unfortunately, even those who have not hacked their devices experienced this. Apart from this, after you update the firmware, the phone gets relocked and third-party applications stop functioning. Other anomalies are possible as well. This is just a matter of time.

So what? I think Apple has overdone the job of fighting unlockers. I don't think it will take long until unlockers release unlock-my-iPhone-1.1.1. It's up to you whether to wait or not. If we take into account that there are no revolutionary features in the 1.1.1. update, maintaining status quo can be the most reasonable choice for unlocked iPhone owners.