Apple Officially Going to War Against Jailbreaking

[Michael Essany]

Apple is officially in the market for a new top cop on their jailbreak police force. With the booming business that is jailbreaking only growing bigger by the day, Apple is planning to seriously crack down on the ease with which hackers exploit the iPhone platform and modify their devices' operating systems.

And Apple isn't making any secret of its intentions. In fact, a new position is posted for all to see on the company's website. They are hoping in the very near future to fill the position of "iPhone OS Platform Security Manager" - aka, a jailbreak cop.

Apple Insider reports that "The company is looking for someone to oversee its team which ensures secure booting and installation of the iPhone OS and protecting and hardening it against outside threats."

It's not clear whether the position is new, or if Apple is looking to replace someone on an existing team. The Santa Clara Valley job was posted on Oct. 16, 2009.

It seems plausible that this is an entirely new position altogether at the company, as Apple is likely surprised with how easily and readily the iPhone is being jailbroken by more users than they can possibly imagine. Consequently, the obvious purpose of this position is to invent and erect as many barriers to jailbreaking as possible.

Sounds like Apple is really going to war with jailbreakers this time.

It has been a long back-and-forth battle between Apple and hackers since the iPhone debuted in 2007. While those working to crack the phone have, until now, been able to maintain their ability to run unauthorized code, Apple, at the moment, appears to have the upper hand. The most recently updated iPhone 3GS, released mid-cycle in October, requires what is known as a "tethered jailbreak," meaning that the iPhone must be attached to a computer via USB and have a hack applied each time it is restarted.

Image via revolver360

Thanks to Melech518 for the heads up!

[ziggie216]

well... I guess in a few months or so.. depending on how jailbreaking will turn out during the next few release.. it might be good bye Apple, hello Andriod.

iPhone is a really nice smartphone, but its the jailbreak w/ other addons that makes it great.

[xgus69]

we will n ever stop jailbreaking.. coz we cant stop.. coz not all of us have at&t lol

[cssoz]

iPhone is a really nice smartphone, but its the jailbreak w/ other addons that makes it great.

damn true

[dq13]

If they finally come out with a way that the iPhone can not be jailbroken and unlocked, they are only affecting themselves since the sales are gonna drop. A s**t load of iPhones out there were purchased ONLY because they can be jailbroken and unlocked to use on another network, if that wasn't possible, at least me (on t-mo) would have never gotten our two iPhones (me and my wife)

[Melech518]

If they finally come out with a way that the iPhone can not be jailbroken and unlocked, they are only affecting themselves since the sales are gonna drop. A s**t load of iPhones out there were purchased ONLY because they can be jailbroken and unlocked to use on another network, if that wasn't possible, at least me (on t-mo) would have never gotten our two iPhones (me and my wife)

Apple believes that jailbreaking a device leads to piracy. According to them, most of the jailbreakers do so only to use programs which download pirated software(stolen apps). Statistics show that most people who jailbreak do so only to use those programs, according to apple. This is the main reason Apple wants to put an end to jailbreaking. To them, it is like when Napster was released. Yes, unlocking boost sales. But in order to unlock you must jailbreak, which is driving Apple mad. As much as I hate it, I understand it as well

[steve-z17]

Apple can watch their sales drop as they tighten security on the iPhone. Sooo many people have jailbroken phones, its a good chunk of their business. BUT, there's always going to be hackers who will look at this as a "challenge" and invite it....and crack it.

I guess someone just said the same thing ^^^ I agree though.

[PaperCross]

well... I guess in a few months or so.. depending on how jailbreaking will turn out during the next few release.. it might be good bye Apple, hello Andriod.

iPhone is a really nice smartphone, but its the jailbreak w/ other addons that makes it great.

+1

Its like making OS X run only "apple approved" apps from an "app store".

If they really crack down on JB, then I am definitely going to drop the iPhone. Too bad because iPhone is the only real piece of cool technology to have come out in a while.

AT&T won't unlock your phone even after your contract is up and Apple gets its wallet fat from shoveling us garbage from Crapp Store.

I'm sure any "security mesaures" they put on the iPhone OS will be eventually broken.

Oh well, guess life goes on .. on to droid.

Apple believes that jailbreaking a device leads to piracy. According to them, most of the jailbreakers do so only to use programs which download pirated software(stolen apps). Statistics show that most people who jailbreak do so only to use the programs, according to apple. This is the main reason Apple wants to put an end to jailbreaking. To them, it is like when Napster was released. Yes, unlocking boost sales. But in order to unlock you must jailbreak, which is driving Apple mad. As much as I hate it, I understand it as well

Shouldn't they be imposing this on OS X as well then? I can run any program i want on OS X.
What do they care if i want to run some unauthorized program on my iPhone? They seem to care about this only because they invested a ton of money in building app store and don't want to see the bottom line affected from app sales.

[iRockish]

If they finally come out with a way that the iPhone can not be jailbroken and unlocked, they are only affecting themselves since the sales are gonna drop. A s**t load of iPhones out there were purchased ONLY because they can be jailbroken and unlocked to use on another network, if that wasn't possible, at least me (on t-mo) would have never gotten our two iPhones (me and my wife)

Yeah, you dont see windows complaining that their WM phones are getting hacked and stuff.

Android well, there not doing that much complaining either.

Apple, hopefully soon, will see why they should compromise with the iPhone JB community.

[wolverinemarky]

they make more money selling phones then they do from the app store probably, but i understand there reasoning there trying to protect themselves and as of right now AT&T profits from phones and services. but nothing is unhackable especially a phone. they can try all they want and it might take geohot or the dev team a little longer to hack it but eventually it will be hacked. so whoever gets that job save your paychecks cause you may not have that position too long

[dbizzy1]

If Apple had half a brain they would just allow the functionality that people want...cusomization. This will probably be a huge mistake on their part and icant wait to laugh in their face. What a joke people will always find ways around their encryption so they are just wasting their time. If they focused their thoughts they could actually make more money...isn't that what they want anyway?

[Melech518]

Shouldn't they be imposing this on OS X as well then? I can run any program i want on OS X.
What do they care if i want to run some unauthorized program on my iPhone? They seem to care about this only because they invested a ton of money in building app store and don't want to see the bottom line affected from app sales.

Their profits on the iPhone come greatly from app sales. This is the reason they want to close the door. As much as we hate the idea of losing JBing, which I doubt we ever will,I understand why Apple would want to do it. If you had a company and were making insane profits from product sales, and then someone figured out a way to crawl into your store through a tunnel and steal your products, you would close the tunnel and hire security personnel to ensure the tunnel stays closed.....

Furthermore, the developers of a majority of these apps are also complaining. Yes apple gets 30% of sales, but the other 70% belongs to some guy/girl trying to feed their family. This is why we have a strong stance against illegal/cracked apps here at ModMyi. Hopefully what Apple is working on is a way to close the door on cracked apps by some sort of encryption or signature, similar to the firmware signing and verification.

[Dade Murphy]

Steve jobs just doesn't like seeing anyone else make money off a product he is making billions off of. The iPod/iPhone basically brought Apple back to being a household name. I love my iphone and I love it being jailbroken mostly for the themes. The iPhone out of the box is BORING a black screen yay! Duh!

[norcalmike]

I'll bet by mid to late next year there will be some very nice Android phones out there that will match the iPhone in every way. Unless Apple really tops themselves on the 4th gen iPhone I'll probably be ready to switch by then. I love my 3Gs but as a PHONE it is still one of the worst I have ever had, bad signal, dropped calls, losing signal. Every Motorola I ever had was better.

[vantheman169]

Maybe they can hire geohot, lmao!!!!!!

[brokentwice]

I bet you the next thing that is coming is they will start going after the dev team and geohot stopping them from working on JB and so on.

I have always wondered i know they dont profit from it.. but How do they not get in trouble with apple?

I mean all apple would have to do is go after the people that make it possible.

seems this is happening all over the place with the companys cracking down On stuff like this..

again i understand the whole piracy thing. but If you ask me. alot of people wouldnt have an iphone if it wasnt for all the JB and so on.

[Carlos]

Im no where near worried about apple

1. I feel if i buy something its mine to do as i please, if i wanna throw this damn phone of da bridge its mine i paid for it.

2. I will just make time to jailbreak and unlock the iphone myself and release it to the public, only reason i haven't been doing so is because its a little time consuming and Geo and the Dev Team has been doing such a good job.

[vantheman169]

Just being able to run programs in the background and sbsettings are 2 of my favorite apps. I agree that they need to have customization and they would have alot happier customers and i hope JBing will never go away but i am not gonna upgrade if it does!!! lol.

[jcemt72]

Apple needs to realize everything is hacked and everything is pirated. What is the difference between doing it on a laptop or a phone?
What next, are Macbooks gonna block torrent sites?

I would venture to say, actually from experience that had the hackers not been around the iPhone wouldn't have been as popular.
Being an early adopter 4GB 1st gen, it was a pretty boring ordinary phone. Blah camera, email, internet, calendar.

The hackers gave us MMS, Video, Voice Control, and many other cool things months before Apple did, not to mention many of the developers for the app store came from the dark side.

Come on Apple your making yourself look bad, hackers and piraters are here to stay. Besides all the cool stuff I have on my phone have led people to buy iPhones.

[ianbroste]

I don't see a day that the iphone can't be jailbroken by someone anytime soon.