Researchers, hackers, using rare dev-fused iPhones to study iOS security features

In the realm of “cool things that are cool,” an article on Motherboard notes how hackers and security researchers use “dev-fused” iPhones to bypass Apple’s protections and security features to help discover vulnerabilities and sensitive information.

The dev-fused iPhones themselves are rate and have not finished the production process via Apple, making them akin to “pre-jailbroken devices.”

Dev-fused iPhones are smuggled out of Apple where they can sell for thousands of dollars on the gray market. These iPhones are incredibly valuable due to the fact that they can be used to locate vulnerabilities able to impact release versions of the iPhone.

Per the article:

“On the back of dev-fused iPhones seen by Motherboard, there’s a QR-code sticker, a separate barcode, and a decal that says “FOXCONN,” referring to the factory that makes iPhones and other Apple products. Otherwise, the phones look like normal iPhones. That standard iPhone experience ends when the phone is turned on. When booted up, you briefly see a command line terminal. And then when it loads, gone are the sleek icons and colorful backgrounds of iOS.”

In interviews with more than two dozen sources, including security researchers, Apple employees, rare handset collectors, and jailbreakers, it was noted that researchers, hackers, and high-profile outfits such as Celebrate and GrayKey use dev-fused iPhones to uncover bugs that can later be exploited by law enforcement agencies. Such handsets, such as a dev-fused iPhone that was used in 2016 to study the Secure Enclave Processor, are considered stolen property and illegal to possess, but are “widely used” in the iPhone hacking scene and considered immensely valuable to those seeking them.

“If you are an attacker, either you go blind or with a few thousand dollars you have all you need,” Luca Todesco, one of the most well-known iOS security researchers in the world, told Motherboard, referring to people who buy dev-fused iPhones. “Some people made the second choice.”

The handsets themselves, such as a dev-fused iPhone X, can retailer for around $1,800, which other noted kits included a dev-fused iPhone XR priced at $20,000.

Dev-fused iPhones are paired with a proprietary Apple cable called Kanzi that can cost upwards of $2,000, that, when plugged into a Mac, provides access to internal Apple software that offers root access to the phone. 

Most of these devices seem to be stolen from and smuggled out of factories like Foxconn in China. Apple is apparently “well aware” of the fact that dev-fused devices are available. Apple has “ramped up efforts” to keep these devices from leaving Foxconn and does go after dev-fused iPhone sellers. 

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via MacRumors and Motherboard