We reported yesterday that Apple has implemented a very welcome security feature in iOS 11.4.1. I speak of USB Restricted Mode, which has the principle of serving as a barrier against invasion tools from the outside. How? Simple: to allow the iPhone to "chat" with any computer or accessory via a Lightning / USB cable, I need to unlock the device if it has been locked for more than an hour.
Thus, Apple wants to prevent other people's iPhones, iPads and iPods touch from falling into the wrong hands and that all the content stored inside the device can be read using tools like the infamous GrayKey, from the obscure company Grayshift.
Even before the feature was released by Apple, Grayshift tried to claim that it already had a solution for the feature of Apple's USB Restricted Mode feature obviously, they did not comment on what exactly they did to circumvent such protection.
From yesterday to today, however, The Verge said that it is possible, yes, to get around this feature of iOS 11.4.1 using a USB accessory. According to the website, researchers at cybersecurity firm ElcomSoft found that this hour counter can be reset, as long as you connect a USB accessory to the Lightning port on the iGadget (regardless of whether he has already connected to that accessory in the past or not).
In short, a person can take an iPhone and, every 45 minutes, stick a USB accessory in the Lightning connector to reset this counter and not let the USB Restricted Mode go into action. It does not have to be a reliable device (such as a computer already properly identified by the iGadget), just plug in * any * accessory that it will serve for the proper purpose.
Okay, all right, quite a flaw (after all, the meter should only take into account a possible unlocking of the screen in this interval and not any connection with other accessories). Even so, USB Restricted Mode does its job if the iPhone in question has been locked for more than an hour or has no contact with USB accessories. So if Grayshift puts your hands on a iGadget 61 minutes after the last password entry or connection to a device via the Lightning port, the device is protected.
This, of course, taking into account this vulnerability found by security researchers, we do not know to what extent the Grayshift actually has a card up its sleeve capable of making its tool run smoothly even after that one hour period.
As everything is now properly explained, at least we know that the flaw must be fixed in iOS 12 (or, who knows, even in a possible version 11.4.2). What a phase, huh Apple
